Austria: Offensive for a Uniform Federal Hunting Law
Hunting must serve the interests of society as a whole and be carried out in an ecologically and animal-welfare-compliant manner. Hunting regulated differently across nine state laws does not meet this standard. The state laws permit, for example: cruel hunting methods, hunting of rare species, shooting of parent animals with young, or killing of dogs and cats.
Endangered species may be shot
A popular initiative demands that hunting laws in Austria be standardised at the federal level. Some state hunting laws permit the shooting of endangered species. “The turtle dove has lost more than two thirds of its population in Austria over the last 20 years,” says DDr. Martin Balluch of the VGT.
Lead shot as a species killer
Every year, the environment in Austria is poisoned by tonnes of lead from ammunition. For all three large eagle species, lead poisoning is one of the most significant causes of mortality. “The end of lead-based hunting ammunition is inevitable and long overdue,” says Hans Frey, raptor expert. More on the topic of hunting law, bird protection and animal welfare issues.
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More on the subject of recreational hunting: 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.
