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After the species was eradicated in large parts of Germany, it was placed under protection. In Bavaria it has recently been released for shooting again. The pond industry had complained about an existential threat from a “stock explosion”. However, there are doubts about the sense of the measure.
File
The otter was widespread in Germany until the end of the 19th century. However, by the middle of the 20th century it disappeared from large parts of western and central Germany. He could only survive in the East. In 1968 the otter was placed under strict protection and was able to regain a foothold in the north. The Bavarian otters hardly spread westward, so their occurrence remains limited along the Czech border, although otter populations in the neighboring country are increasing rapidly thanks to effective management.
conflicts
Otters are a problem for pond owners because they eat around 1 kilo of fish every day and invade fish farming ponds. This caused so much economic damage that some businesses had to give up breeding. Hence the call for the otters to be shot. According to the Bavarian State Institute for Agriculture, 209 otters have been detected in Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria. A study by the University of Graz for the state institute estimates the population at 463 to 661 otters, but the study is not publicly available.
False signals
In the hope of winning points in the next elections, nature conservation is often presented as a threat from which businesses must be protected. A shooting permit is particularly useful as a simple and understandable measure.
Since the otter is still on the red list, removal, i.e. shooting, is not as easy as some people think. This is made clear by a dispute from 2020 in which, following a lawsuit from nature conservation associations, it was ruled that the exemption to kill otters in the Upper Palatinate was unlawful.
It is also questionable how exactly the impact of shooting individual animals will be. According to a research paper, there is currently “no scientifically based study across Europe on the effectiveness of the removal of individual otters on the extent of damage in pond farming.” Furthermore, shooting does not have a deterrent effect on other species of the same species.
Die Realität
Since August 1st, the Bavarian State Agricultural Agency has released a quota of 32 animals for removal. To date, not a single animal has been taken, either by trapping, catching or shooting.
