Pointless shooting of pets When dogs and cats are hunted 04/12/2024 from Nadine Carstens

Section 23 of the Federal Hunting Act serves as the basis for the hunting laws of the federal states that permit shooting⁴. This enables the "protection of game" from unsupervised dogs and cats. Only in Saarland⁵ has prohibited the shooting of pets since 2014. There are also restrictions in Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony: In Baden-Württemberg⁶ the shooting of pets has only been possible under strict conditions since 2015. In North Rhine-Westphalia⁷ the state hunting law has also prohibited at least the shooting of cats since 2015. And in Saxony⁸ hunters are only allowed to kill "poaching" dogs with the prior approval of the hunting authority.

There are no official figures on how many dogs and cats are shot by hunters nationwide. This is because not every animal shot is reported or documented. Only in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Saarland is there more specific information on this in the respective hunting routes. In these five federal states alone, almost 160,000 cats and almost 900 dogs were killed between 2007 and 2022. As mentioned above, it should be noted that there has been a ban on killing cats in North Rhine-Westphalia since 2015 and a general ban on shooting pets in Saarland since 2014.

Hunters cite the protection of wild animals as the reason for hunting dogs and cats. But in reality, these pets pose very little danger. "Hunters often cite scientific studies that are supposed to prove the impact of cats on small animals and birds. However, on closer inspection, many of them are either scientifically untenable or at least have major flaws," reports Brückner. There is therefore a lack of meaningful evidence that would justify the general shooting of cats.

According to the expert, the number of incidents in which dogs have seriously endangered wild animals is also extremely low. In any case, the owners are always responsible in such cases.

In our view, far more effective than the culling of pets are, among other things, nationwide castration campaigns for cats - a measure that we have been calling for for many years. This is the only way to reduce the immense number of free-roaming cats in the long term. In the case of dogs that demonstrably chase after wild animals and endanger them, milder precautions such as warning shots or catching the dogs are more appropriate from an animal welfare perspective. In this case, the owners are the main problem anyway. "Instead of chasing the dogs, it would make more sense to exert pressure on the animal owners if they don't show any understanding - for example, sanctions such as a ban on keeping dogs if it's a repeat offense," says Brückner. Among other things, we recommend introducing an additional regulation in accordance with regulatory law so that the competent authorities can confiscate a dog that repeatedly "poaches". If, on the other hand, a dog or cat is caught in a trap, hunters should treat them as found animals and hand them over to an animal welfare organization instead of killing them.