In the Federal Republic of Germany the handling of animals during hunt
ing is governed more by the animal protection law than by the correspo
nding hunting law. Points of the animal protection law which directly
affect hunting are (1) the release of wild animals, (2) the training a
nd examination of animals concerning attacking other animals, (3) the
setting of animals on other animals, and (4) the killing of vertebrate
s. Guiding principles for killing wild animals during hunting accordin
g to the animal protection law are formulated and discussed in relatio
n to the traditional german understanding of hunting ethics. It can be
expected that hunting will increasingly become a topic of public disc
ussion on animal protection, in which the ethics of hunting in relatio
n to the wild animal will be dominant.