Hartheim/Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - A passing wolf was run over on Autobahn 5 near Hartheim (Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district). The animal came from an Italian population in the Alps and had not previously been recorded in Germany, the Ministry of the Environment announced on Wednesday.
The male wolf died in a traffic accident in mid-September. The Senckenberg Center for Wildlife Genetics then examined the carcass and gave the animal the designation GW2930m. The municipality of Hartheim is outside the so-called wolf prevention support area, in which animal owners receive support from the state, for example with the purchase or maintenance of pasture fences and livestock protection dogs.
According to the nature conservation policy spokesman for the Greens in the state parliament, Markus Rösler, this is the third run-over wolf since these animals were first detected in the southwest in 2015. "This means that our roads nationwide are clearly the number one cause of death for wolves in Germany," shared Rösler in the evening with. Nevertheless, according to his assessment, the wolves will continue to spread in the southwest. Because all wolves that have been genetically determined so far are male, neither pair formation nor packs are in sight.
