Did you know that according to survey results about 70% of the German population is against hunting? Meanwhile, some people remember the first President of the Republic of Germany, who once said: "Hunting is merely a cowardly definition of an especially cowardly murder of our helpless fellow creatures. Hunting is another form of human mental illness." Theodore Heuß must have known this, because for years as part of his official duties, he accompanied diplomats from all possible nations on the hunt - to his disgust, as we learned later.

"There are a total of about 300,000 hunters in Germany, who kill 5 million animals every year. Often by terrible and cruel means: rabbits with buckshot, which makes them scream in pain like little children; deer and wild pigs with so-called expansion bullets, which press blood and intestines out of the severely wounded animals, as signs, so that while fleeing they leave behind traces for those who are tracking them down. Among other things, martens and foxes die in traps, which cause the animals a wretched death struggle. Young wild pigs go into panic when their lead sow is shot dead. Fawns watch helplessly as their mothers bleed to death. What brought tears to the eyes of the public in Bambi films, is part of the daily cruelty in our forests."

This can be read in a press release of the Initiative for the Abolishment of Hunting, which has caused a stir for some months now. Every first Saturday of the month, they demonstrate in Berlin and march from Adenauer Square to the Memorial Church - under the motto: "Abolish hunting!" The initiator is biologist and Director of Studies Kurt Eicher from Heilbronn, Germany. These monthly Saturday demonstrations could become dangerous for Germany's hunters, if the stubborn opponent of hunting and his followers keep it up. And it does look like they will. Recently, they even wrote a letter to two ministers of the Green Party, Renate Künast, who is responsible for hunting, and Jürgen Trittin, who is responsible for environmental protection. The demand of the hunting opponents: "Make the abolishment of hunting a topic in the coming election campaign!" Literally, the hunting opponents write: "The farewell to the bloody tradition of hunting is long overdue. What is possible in other countries must also become possible in Germany." Kurt Eicher refers here to the paper of the work group Man and Animal by the Alliance 90 of the Green Party in July 1998, in which it expressly takes a position, saying: The work group champions on a long-term basis the abolishment of hunting." At the same time, short-term measures were suggested. They include:
· The limitation of the hunting seasons
· The reduction in the numbers of animal species that can be hunted
· The forbiddance of all kinds of trapping
· The abolishment of buckshot
· Making optional the presently compulsory membership in a hunting club 

The opponents of hunting want to see these important political demands put into practice on a short-term basis, without letting go of their goal to completely abolish hunting. In a letter to the ministers, they give voice to their program: "Good politics for man is not possible without good politics for nature and the environment ... As long as we do not make peace with our fellow creatures, we will not attain peace among people." 

back to main news page