On Wednesday, at a body of water near Gut Landegge in the Emsland town of Haren, the matter was about death. The district of Emsland had called for the site visit, together with the hunting associations Aschendorf-Hümmling, Meppen and Lingen. Nutria live traps of the type “Trapper Neozoen” were presented. For each hunting association the district supports their acquisition with 50,000 euros.
Gut Landegge is a picturesque estate. On its website it says: “Love of animals is highly valued at our estate.” The district does not see any problem with the location. It had “exclusively been a meeting point with a navigable address,” explains Anja Rohde, spokesperson for the district. Afterwards, they went on foot into the terrain.
The new live traps, galvanized steel, theoretically monitored around the clock by catch detectors, are “animal-friendly,” Rohde assures. Good: They have no mechanical parts inside, which reduces the risk of injury, have smooth walls. But captivity nevertheless means stress. And it ends with death: the animal runs to the bait, the trapdoor slams shut behind it, a waiting, movable back wall pushes the animal out, a small-caliber head shot, that’s it.
Nutrias, imposing rodents, belong to the animals that meet massive rejection in the Emsland. 7,835 of them were shot here in 2024/25. 53,748 were it Niedersachsenwide, a rise of 19.5 percent from the previous year.
Green Agricultural Minister Praises the Hunting Community
Lower Saxony’s hunters “deserve high recognition for their commitment to protecting nature and preserving biodiversity,” says Miriam Staudte, Lower Saxony’s Green Minister of Agriculture, in this context. “Also the hunting of invasive species helps with this and must be expanded further.”
Nutrias originate from South America. They are listed in the EU’s list of invasive, non-native species of Union-wide concern. This seals their migratory fate.
The nutria population carries a “significant risk potential for flood protection,” writes Stefanie Geisler, spokesperson for Staudte’s ministry, to . The species undermines riverbank slopes of running waters and dikes, endangering the stability of hydraulic structures as well as bridges and roads near bodies of water.
Hunting could be “an instrument for population reduction.” A natural regulation by predators cannot be assumed “due to the rapidly growing populations,” the spokesperson writes.
For the native nature, nutria are a danger. “The animals eat large amounts of reed and bank plants,” Geisler argues, “especially their roots, which hinders the development or renaturation of such valuable ecosystems and thus also deprives breeding and retreat habitats for endangered species.” They also eat crops.
The more nutria are shot, the more new animals occupy their old habitats.
Peter Höffken, PETA
That death is not the only defense is conceded: also “fringe measures for active hunting,” such as bank reinforcement or the destruction of hiding places, could be considered.
The Emsland is “the region in the entire state most affected by this invasive species,” says district spokesperson Rohde. Because of the “extensive burrows of the nutria,” embankments could collapse or slip and drag people along who ride there with a lawnmower.
“Nutrias are stigmatized, victims of fear-mongering,” criticizes Peter Höffken, Wild Animals Specialist at the animal-rights organization PETA Germany. “The more of them that are shot, the more new animals occupy their old habitats.” He calls on Staudte’s ministry to “not implement lethal methods to reduce the nutria population, because only these would break the vicious circle of ever-higher killing numbers.”
Peaceful solutions, such as dike reinforcement, are more cost-effective in the long run than permanent hunting. Instead, killing rewards are offered. “That’s like the Wild West, when people were not as civilized as today,” says Höffken. The authorities “currently have only killing on the agenda,” while the annual kill lists show that mass killings are counterproductive.
New traps for the hunters, then—and new opportunities to praise they care for conservation. “Hunters like to kill,” says Höffken, “and there are more and more of them. When public opinion turns against a species, that suits them.”
