17,000 people against wolf pup hunting in GR

Seven wolf protection organisations from across Switzerland are calling on the canton of Grisons to call off the planned massacre of wolf pups by hunters.

On Thursday they handed cantonal councillor Carmelia Maissen a corresponding petition signed by more than 17,000 people. The killing of wolf pups is internationally condemned, ethically untenable and would also draw a reprimand from the Bern Convention against Switzerland.

«The hunting of wolf pups by hunters represents a new dimension of wolf regulation,» explained Rolf Hilfiker, co-president of the organisation Wolfshirte, at the handover of the petition in Chur.

«We fear a precedent that would make all wolves huntable,» explained Christine Steiner, president of CHWolf. The wolf, however, is a protected animal. The collection of signatures was triggered by the canton of Grisons announcing that, in the next regulation period, it intends to shoot two thirds of all wolf pups in the canton.

Hunters' conscience and political reaction

Not least, with the petition the organisation wanted to appeal to hunters' conscience. «We would like hunters to consider whether killing pups is necessary and appropriate,» said Steiner.

Cantonal councillor Maissen promised the wolf protectors that she would review their concerns with her team, but did not want to make any concrete statements on the spot. «We are in a learning process that will continue for some time,» said the head of the Department for Infrastructure, Energy and Mobility and thus head of the Grisons wildlife wardens.

Postscript: the canton went ahead with killing the pups

The petition had no effect. At the end of August 2025, the Federal Office for the Environment approved proactive regulation, and in the Grisons high hunt of 2025, authorised hobby hunters were permitted for the first time to kill juveniles from eight wolf packs as well as a single wolf in the Upper Engadine. In early February 2026, the canton announced the completion of the operation. The fear of wolf protection organisations that this would set a precedent normalising the killing of pups by hobby hunters has been confirmed. You can read how WBW assesses the process in «Grisons kills wolf pups: a scandal at the expense of nature».

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