Hobby hunters' animal-welfare-defying fox weeks

The Deutsche Tierschutzbund sharply criticises the so-called “fox weeks”, to which hunting magazines and parts of the reckless hobby hunting community are currently calling for in many places.

The aim, partly encouraged by the offering of prizes, is to kill as many foxes as possible. These ongoing competitions fall right in the middle of the animals' mating and gestation period, and in some cases even into the rearing phase of the young. The fact that shooting parent animals leaves orphaned fox cubs to cruelly starve to death is apparently accepted as collateral damage. Methods that violate animal welfare, such as trap hunting or Earth Hunting, are used in many places, the animal welfare campaigners criticise. The association is calling for a fundamental reform of hunting legislation.

Fox hunting is cruel and violates animal welfare. Foxes are hunted with kill and live-capture traps, driven out of their dens with hunting dogs, or lured in using calls or ‘bait sites’ and shot. There are no general closed seasons in many federal states; only parent foxes are actually supposed to be protected during the rearing period. Not infrequently, however, the fox cubs are shot first, followed by the now cub-less parents – a macabre, senseless killing contest under the guise of the ‘fair chase’ so highly praised by hobby hunters.

James Brückner, Head of the Species Protection Division at the Deutsche Tierschutzbund.

Fox hunting is no contribution to species conservation

Every year, hunters in Germany kill around 450,000 foxes. They justify the hunting of foxes and other predators by claiming it helps protect endangered species. However, animal welfare advocates argue that no human intervention is fundamentally necessary to regulate fox numbers. The population regulates itself, for example through disease, limited food supply, and their social structure, which prevents excessive reproduction. The decline of endangered ground-nesting birds such as grey partridges or lapwings, on the other hand, is mainly due to the destruction of habitats and food sources caused by intensive agriculture and road and urban construction. “The hunting lobby's arguments fall short — and the fox is made a scapegoat for man-made problems”, comments Brückner. Hunting is pointless, as vacated territories are usually quickly repopulated by other foxes. Foxes also play an important role in their ecosystems: they keep mouse populations in check, which are unwanted not only in cities but also by farmers.

No hunting “without a reasonable reason”

The animal welfare act has actually long prohibited inflicting pain, suffering or harm on animals “without a reasonable reason”. Hunting foxes is neither compatible with animal welfare practice nor with the principles of animal welfare law. The opportunity for a comprehensive revision of the Federal Hunting Act in this respect was once again missed in 2021. As a result, legally, neither hunting methods that violate animal welfare are prohibited, nor is a “reasonable reason” enshrined as a requirement for killing animals in hunting legislation.