FOEN rejects wolf regulation in Glarus

The federal government has rejected the canton of Glarus's application to regulate a wolf pack due to damage caused to livestock.

Livestock protection inadequate

It cites inadequate livestock protection as its reason. The canton of Glarus regrets this decision.

The canton of Glarus submitted an application on 21 September 2021 to regulate the Kärpf wolf pack. In the canton's view, the pack had killed ten livestock animals from protected or unreasonably difficult-to-protect situations within four months. The federal government does not share this assessment and objected that in one of the three wolf attacks, livestock protection had been inadequate, meaning the livestock killed in that incident cannot be counted towards the wolf regulation threshold (press release from the Federal Office for the Environment). Approval for the regulation of the Kärpf wolf pack — specifically the culling of three of the six young animals — was therefore not granted. The canton of Glarus regrets this decision.

130 to 150 wolves living in Switzerland

According to the FOEN, approximately 130 to 150 wolves currently live in Switzerland in at least 13 packs — with numbers on the rise. Since the Swiss electorate rejected the revised Hunting Act in autumn 2020, the Federal Council amended the Hunting Ordinance in summer 2021, significantly lowering the threshold for shooting wolves.

As recently as early September, the shooting of three young wolves in the canton of Graubünden was approved. The new regulation was first applied in July in the canton of Valais, where authorities ordered the shooting of a wolf that had killed ten sheep. It was ultimately shot in early August — the first official cull under the new rules.

Dossier: Wolf in Switzerland: facts, politics and the limits of hunting