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More than a century ago, wolves were hunted to extinction in Germany. These days, they're back - and their presence is a source of political strife.
Wolf attacks on livestock increased drastically in 2017, according to government statistics released at the weekend: they carried out 472 attacks, an increase of 66% over the previous year. The number of killed, injured or missing livestock - mostly sheep and goats - rose 55%, to 1,667.
The issue of how to deal with wolves is pitting farmers who want to protect their livestock against environmentalists who priorities the protection of vulnerable species.
Julia Klöckner, the agriculture minister, said the latest figures proved the government needed to act. Germany should shift its regulations to make it legal to remove individual wolves from a pack, she told the
Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.
Comment: Also pertinent: Mammoth Mountain in California has received 37 feet of snow for the season so far - with further heavy falls forecast
HUGE amounts of snow on Mammoth Mountain, California
Lake Tahoe weather: Season snow totals near 400 inches
As regards that last report (dated the 11th of February) a total of 8 feet of new snow can be added after taking into account these subsequent reports:
Storm snow totals surge to 5 feet at some Lake Tahoe area ski resorts in 48 hours
Lake Tahoe ski resorts hit by another 3 feet of snow in 24 hours
Which would take the season snowfall total thus far for some of those resorts to 41 feet.