The big bad wolves of Germany

A few hundred wolves have gradually settled into rural German towns near the Polish border.

But to hear some politicians talk about it, the country is facing an invasion. It is strikingly similar to how they talk about immigrants, turning the wolf into an object of terror and the discussion into an allegory for the nation’s culture wars. It has even become a central campaign issue in some regional elections in the former Communist East, where the number of wolves is highest — and the far right is strong.

“Wolves are dangerous and they breed explosively,” said Silke Grimm, no relation to the Grimm brothers, who is in charge of the wolf issue at the AfD chapter in eastern Saxony. “The official line is it’s all under control. We know that line from the refugee crisis. No one believes a word of it.”

Context: Over the last century, there have been no reported cases of a wolf killing a human in Germany, according to a biologist at the wolf information office for the regional government.