Taking action against recreational hunting

Geneva has proven it: things work better without hunting. The canton of Geneva has been free of recreational hunting since 1974. The result: rising species diversity and biodiversity, stable wildlife populations, more than a tenfold increase in the number of overwintering waterbirds, and brown hares and beavers once again visible in everyday life, regularly spotted by walkers. What Geneva can do, the whole of Switzerland can do.

You can help change this today. Here are the most effective ways.

1. Follow campaigns and get politically active

The most effective form of engagement is political pressure. IG Wild beim Wild documents ongoing campaigns, initiatives and political motions against recreational hunting in Switzerland:

→ View all current campaigns

Template texts for hunting-critical motions – free of charge and ready to use immediately

Are you politically active yourself, or do you know parliamentarians who want to make a difference? IG Wild beim Wild provides 53 fully drafted template texts for motions, postulates, popular initiatives and parliamentary bills, free of charge. Each text can be adopted directly, adapted to cantonal circumstances and submitted. The collection comprises seven thematic categories:

Basics & Hunting in Switzerland – hunting bans, fox hunting, small game hunting, hunting tourism, wildlife corridors, biodiversity assessment, game warden corps, hunter training
Politics, Lobbying & Media – hunting propaganda, schools, environmental privileges, hunting events, transparency of hunting administration, lobby register
Types of Hunting, Safety & Technology – alcohol, crime, lead ammunition, traps, safety, gun violence, high-tech ban, hunting dogs, high hunt, swine fever, wait hunting, earth hunting, wait hunting, special hunt
Animal Dignity, Images of Violence & the Psychological Dimension – trophy photos, children, game meat, mandatory reporting of hunting victims, trophy import ban, animal welfare law, leisure-time violence
Wolf, predators & politics – moratorium, protective forest, herd protection, evaluation of wolf kills, Bern Convention
Law, control & alternatives – fencing and pasture netting, hunting statistics, hunting-free zones, hunting oversight, cultural landscape
Cantonal popular initiatives – template text for the cantonal abolition of recreational hunting at the ballot box (canton of Basel-Stadt)

The texts can be adopted directly as a motion, postulate, popular initiative or parliamentary bill and adapted to the cantonal legal situation.

→ View all template texts for hunting-critical motions

Mandate holders who need support adapting a template text to their canton can contact IG Wild beim Wild: → Get in touch

Those who are informed can act effectively. The IG Wild beim Wild newsletter appears sporadically and provides current cases, new campaigns, political developments and suggestions for action.

→ Subscribe to the newsletter now

(No spam. Unsubscribe at any time.)

3. Report suspicious cases: the recreational hunter radar

Have you made an observation? Discovered a high seat? Do you suspect an animal welfare offence, poaching, or illegal hunting practice? Then report the case to us. Every report can help document and publicise wrongdoing.

→ Report a suspicious case now

4. Raise awareness and share content

Spreading information is one of the most effective measures of all. You can:

Share dossiers and articles from wildbeimwild.com on social networks
Tell friends and family about the reality of recreational hunting
Write letters to the editor of local media
Freely copy and share content from IG Wild beim Wild (copyleft)

Good starting points for raising awareness:
→ Alternatives to hunting | → The hunting lobby in Switzerland | → All dossiers

Writing letters to the editor: How your voice gets into the newspaper

The letters-to-the-editor page is one of the most widely read sections of any newspaper. Editorial teams regularly print submissions, even when they clearly contradict an article. Anyone who responds to a report on fox hunting, wolf culls or hunting accidents reaches precisely those readers who are currently engaging with the topic. A single well-substantiated letter in your regional newspaper can achieve more than a hundred comments on social media.

How to proceed:

Respond quickly: Ideally within two to three days of the article's publication.
State the reference: Write "Letter to the editor regarding '[article title]' of [date]" in the subject line.
Keep it short: Many newspapers set an upper limit, often around 2,000 characters including spaces. Long letters are shortened or not printed at all.
Stay focused: One well-substantiated main argument carries more weight than five half-developed ones.
Stay factual: Criticise statements, not people. Factual claims must be verifiable.
Write in your own words: Editorial teams immediately recognise identical texts from multiple senders and will not print them.
Provide your details: Full name, place of residence, postal address and telephone number. Anonymous submissions are not published; as a rule, only the name and place are published.
Find the address: It can be found in the newspaper's masthead or under the "Letters to the Editor" or "Forum" section. Regional and local titles are especially keen to print submissions from their own distribution area.

A tried-and-tested structure:

Reference: Which article and which statement are you responding to?
Objection: What is wrong or incomplete about this statement?
Evidence: A study, an official report, or an example such as Geneva or Luxembourg.
Conclusion: A clear demand or question addressed to those responsible.
Sender: First name, surname, place of residence.

Building blocks of argument with evidence:

Fox hunting does not regulate: High kill numbers do not permanently reduce the fox population and are unsuitable for combating fox tapeworm. → Campaign "Stop Fox Hunting"
Geneva as a model: The canton of Geneva has had no recreational hunting since 1974; wildlife populations are stable and biodiversity has increased. → Abolishing recreational hunting: The Geneva model
Luxembourg: Fox hunting has been banned there since 2015, without any increase in problems with foxes.
Self-regulation: Wildlife populations regulate themselves through habitat and food supply. → Dossier: Self-regulation
Debunking common claims: → Hunting myths: 12 claims examined | → Studies on hunting

Was your letter to the editor published? Send us a note with the newspaper and date. This helps us see where the debate is taking place, and allows us to follow up in a targeted way.

→ Report a letter to the editor

5. Use the dossiers: knowledge as a weapon

Anyone who wants to argue convincingly in discussions, media enquiries, or political work needs reliable foundations. The dossiers of IG Wild beim Wild bring together well-founded analyses, studies, legal texts and argumentation on the most important topics relating to hunting policy and wildlife protection in Switzerland.

The dossiers are organised by subject area:

Basics & Hunting in Switzerland: How does the Swiss hunting system work? What lies behind terms such as «game management» or «population control»?
Politics, Lobbying & Media: Who influences hunting policy, and how? How does the hunting lobby operate?
Diseases, wildlife protection & technology: What role does hunting play in the spread of wildlife diseases?
Animal Dignity, Images of Violence & the Psychological Dimension: What effect does hunting have on society's image of wild animals?
Wolf, predators & politics: How is the wolf instrumentalised, and what facts contradict the hunting lobby?
Law, control & alternatives: What does the law say, and what alternatives to hunting exist?

The dossiers provide clearly formulated, factually substantiated points that you can use directly in conversations, letters to the editor, or political motions. All sources are freely accessible and can be linked to.

→ View all dossiers

6. Have your property declared a hunting-free zone

Anyone who owns forest, meadow or farmland does not simply have to accept recreational hunting on their own property. This is not merely an opinion, but a human-rights position supported by the highest European court.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled clearly in several judgments: landowners who reject hunting on ethical grounds may not be forced to tolerate hunting on their land. Doing so violates Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights (protection of property) and freedom of conscience. Switzerland is a signatory state to the ECHR and is obliged to bring its legislation into line with human rights.

In practice, the cantonal options today are still limited. Nevertheless, you have concrete options for action:

Contact your cantonal authority in writing and apply for your property to be excluded from hunting on ethical grounds
Put up hunting-ban signs on your land and document your objection in writing
Use the template texts from IG Wild beim Wild to support a cantonal motion for the right to hunting-free private land

→ Dossier: Hunting and human rights
→ Template text: Declaring private property hunting-free

7. Apply political pressure

Write to your municipal councillor, your cantonal parliamentarian or a National Council member today. Demand:

The cantonal expansion of hunting-free zones following Geneva's example
The involvement of non-hunters in hunting-policy decisions
The consistent enforcement of the animal welfare act in the exercise of hunting

You can find contact details for members of parliament at parlament.ch.

8. Be cautious with nature conservation associations

Not every association with "nature" in its name effectively protects wild animals. Many Swiss environmental associations are closely connected to the hunting lobby and regularly torpedo initiatives against recreational hunting. Before becoming a member or making a donation, check what stance an association takes on recreational hunting.

→ More on the hunting lobby in Switzerland

9. No game meat, no fur

Every purchasing decision is a vote. Anyone who buys game meat, wears fur or books hunting tourism is directly or indirectly financing an industry based on killing wild animals as a leisure activity.

Game meat

Game meat is often considered “natural” or “sustainable”, yet the opposite is frequently true. In Switzerland, much of the game meat sold in shops comes from abroad, from intensive enclosure-based game farming, or from large-scale hunting kills. But the main problem lies elsewhere: game meat can make you ill.

Lead from hunting ammunition

Lead bullets fragment on impact, leaving invisible particles in the meat. The Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (BLV) therefore explicitly recommends that children up to the age of 7, pregnant women, breastfeeding women and women trying to conceive should avoid eating game meat wherever possible. Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) arrives at the same recommendation. Lead cannot be “cooked away”.

Parasites and pathogens

Wild boar is a high-risk category due to trichinellosis and other zoonoses. The safety chain for game is fundamentally more variable than for standardised slaughter: field dressing, retrieval, cooling and transport differ greatly depending on experience, weather and terrain.

“Organic” is a marketing myth

“Organic” implies defined standards and controls. Game meat is not a certified organic product simply because the animal lived in the wild. “Natural” is no substitute for independent inspection.

→ Everything on this topic in the dossier: Game meat in Switzerland

Fur and pelts

Fur and pelts from native wild animals such as foxes, badgers or martens are still traded in Switzerland, often trivialised as a “by-product” of hunting. Anyone who buys these products creates an incentive that goes beyond the personal needs of recreational hunters and contributes to the economic justification of recreational hunting.

Hunting tourism and trophy hunting

An estimated 1,500 to 2,000 Swiss recreational hunters travel abroad each year to kill wild animals. Switzerland-based providers such as VEPAR Jagdreisen or Bavetia.ch arrange drive hunts in Eastern Europe, while international platforms offer trophy hunts for elephants, lions or buffalo in Africa, sometimes with a money-back guarantee if no kill is made. Find out more on our dossier page about the background of trophy hunting.

What you can do:

Don't buy game meat — choose plant-based alternatives instead
Consistently reject fur and pelts from wild animals, whether as clothing, decoration or souvenirs
Boycott hunting fairs, hunting exhibitions and events that market hunting as a lifestyle
Talk to restaurants and catering businesses about game dishes on the menu and explain your position

→ More on alternatives to hunting

Legal notice regarding actions in public spaces

Documenting hunting activity in the field (Section 3) can raise legal questions, particularly when private property is entered. Putting up hunting-ban signs (Section 6) is a first documentary step, but does not replace a formal procedure with the cantonal authority. For letters to the editor and public statements (Section 4), the following applies: specific factual claims about people or events must be verifiable.

In any case, find out about the applicable legal situation in your canton beforehand. IG Wild beim Wild accepts no liability for the actions of third parties.

Donate

Anyone wishing to financially support animal welfare work on the ground can do so through our partner organisation:

→ Donate now to stinah.ch

Contact

Questions, tips or feedback?

→ Write to us

Recreational hunting is not nature conservation, but a relic from feudal times. It causes animal suffering, weakens nature conservation and contradicts modern ethical standards. The examples from Geneva, Luxembourg and dozens of other regions worldwide show: nature and biodiversity benefit when recreational hunting ends.

«Recreational hunting is not culture, but a lack of culture. It is not a necessity, but avoidable animal cruelty.»

SONGS · FREE TO USE

These anti-hunting songs belong to everyone

Freely downloadable, shareable and usable. No copyright, no restrictions.

To the songs →