Austria: Approval of Recreational Hunting in Free Fall
Population rejects animal cruelty and hunting of endangered species.
Approval dropped from 42% to 27%
«Jagd Österreich» celebrates in a press release the allegedly widespread approval of recreational hunting among the population.
And this, even though the question posed in the survey begins with “Regardless of your opinion on hunting” (!).
In reality, approval of recreational hunting in Austria is in free fall, as an analysis by the Market Institute shows. Within just a few years (from 2015 to 2023) it fell from 42% to just 27%. Among those under 50, it is even lower. The citizens’ initiative for a federal hunting law is raising awareness.
Why approval is declining
Instead of throwing up smoke screens, representatives of conventional recreational hunting would do better to ask themselves why public approval of their activities is declining so sharply. Here are some reasons:
- Several animal species have no closed season, meaning they are killed throughout the year. Young animals that lose their mothers as a result die a slow and agonising death from starvation.
- Cruel hunting methods such as trap hunting, earth hunting and enclosure hunting are commonplace.
- Recreational hunters in Austria kill endangered species such as the turtle dove, common pochard, common snipe and grey partridge, even though their populations have collapsed dramatically.
- Deer and roe deer are far too often fed inappropriately at the expense of forest regeneration, in order to “harvest” as many and as large trophies as possible.
- Tens of thousands of animals are killed for no other reason than that they are seen by recreational hunters as competition for their hunting quarry.
Greenwashing by the hunting lobby
An ecological hunting reform, as demanded by the citizens’ initiative for a federal hunting law, is long overdue and would also be in the interest of a recreational hunting community that does not wish to remain stuck in the past.
The greenwashing campaign run by «Jagd Österreich» seeks to suggest that recreational hunting has nothing to do with recreational hunting, but is rather a form of nature observation. «The 200’000 birds that appear annually in Austria’s hunting statistics apparently die somehow on their own,» says Prof. Dr. Rudolf Winkelmayer, authorized representative of the citizens’ initiative for a federal hunting law.
«To this day, «Jagd Österreich» has not responded to our open letter», Prof. Dr. Winkelmayer continues with regret, «apparently they lack the arguments. Should recreational hunting one day end up on the ash heap of history, the regional hunting associations will have only their own inability to reform to blame.»
The citizens’ initiative «For a Federal Hunting Law» has formulated 14 principles to be implemented in a federal hunting law. The initiative, comprising AG Wildtiere, Ökologischer Jagdverband, animal welfare Austria and VGT, is currently seeking declarations of support for the citizens’ initiative, which all persons eligible to vote in Austria can submit at any district or municipal office or around the clock online using a mobile phone signature.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In our dossiers on the criticism of recreational hunting gather fact-checks, analyses and background reports. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
