Bern: Criticism of the «Fishing Hunting Shooting» Trade Fair

From Thursday, 13–16 February 2020, the “Fishing Hunting Shooting” trade fair will be held at the Expo grounds in Bern. The IG Wild beim Wild criticises this fishing-hunting-violence event and calls on the public to boycott the fair. Killing as a “pastime” is a form of cultural barbarism. Although there is no justifiable reason for hunting species such as carrion crows, rooks,

Editorial Team Wild beim Wild — 29 January 2020

From Thursday, 13–16 February 2020, the “Fishing Hunting Shooting” trade fair will be held at the Expo grounds in Bern.

The IG Wild beim Wild criticises this fishing-hunting-violence event and calls on the public to boycott the fair. Killing as a “pastime” is a form of cultural barbarism.

Although there is no justifiable reason for hunting species such as carrion crows, rooks, Eurasian jays, magpies, feral domestic cats, raccoons, raccoon dogs, foxes, and badgers in small game hunting, wildlife and even domestic animals are killed every year primarily as a “leisure activity” by hobby hunters.

Those who kill senselessly are not protecting anything, and civilised society gains nothing from it. Hobby hunters therefore do not contribute to healthy or natural wildlife populations either, least of all through their despicable fox hunting.

The IG Wild beim Wild criticises the fact that the organiser Bernexpo AG provides a platform for people who indulge in a culture of violence under the guise of a misguided experience of nature. Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) even offer combined tickets for schools. Trophy hunters can, for example, book hunts targeting wildlife in Namibia at such trade fairs. Kambaku GmbH & Co. is one such travel operator, claiming that European hobby hunters are needed there to regulate wildlife populations because local predators are failing. Their website features a perverse price list for tourists who wish to shoot wildlife in Africa. The killing of animals can simply be added on to a safari booking.

Namibia is very popular among hunting tourists in German-speaking countries. Around 20,000 German-Namibians live in the former German colony, whose mother tongue is German. Some of them attract visitors to all-inclusive hunting holidays on their farms, conducted in German. Guided hunting, including accommodation and full board, costs around 200 euros per day. Additional costs include rental fees for rifles and trophy fees for animals shot.

According to media reports, hobby hunters in Switzerland are demonstrably involved year after year in thousands of legal violations, such as breaches of hunting law, poaching, arms smuggling, environmental and traffic offences, animal welfare violations, and other criminal offences (1).

Practices are used in the course of hunting that are actually prohibited by the Animal Welfare Act. Hobby hunters frequently inflict considerable pain on these sentient beings. In addition, incidents occur every year in which stray shots or ricochets injure or even kill people, rifle bullets strike houses, or walkers suddenly come under fire.

Anglers lure millions of fish into a trap every year, pierce their mouths with a hook, let them suffocate, or in some cases gut them while still alive.The IG Wild beim Wild is calling for a ban on hobby hunting and sport fishing.

“It is tasteless to advertise the killing of animals as a kind of entertaining ‘leisure sport’ at the Fischen Jagen Schiessen trade fair in Bern. Under the guise of a connection with nature, hunting causes immeasurable suffering — every year many animals are wounded by stray shots or senselessly terrorised. Many of them die slowly and in agony. Sensitive fish are treated as toys or sporting equipment, skewered or clubbed to death.”
Carl Sonnthal, IG Wild beim Wild.

Hobby Hunters — A Natural Disaster

In the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of management and stewardship by hobby hunters, the proportion of threatened species is greater than in any other country in the world. For decades, these contract killers have been creating an ecological imbalance in the cultivated landscape, with sometimes dramatic consequences (protective forests, disease, agricultural damage, and much more). More than a third of plant,wildlife and fungal species are considered threatened. Switzerland Switzerland also ranks last in Europe when it comes to the removal of protected areas for biodiversity. It is precisely these same circles of hobby hunters, through their lobbying work via politics, media, and legislation, who have been responsible for this for decades. They are the ones who notoriously block contemporary, ethical improvements in animal welfare and sabotage serious animal and species protection. Hobby hunters regularly oppose more national parks in Switzerland, because their concern is not nature, biodiversity, species protection, or animal welfare, but rather the pursuit of their perverted, bloody hobby.

Did you know …

that in Switzerland innocent young wolves are being killed?
that hobby hunters lie about the assessment of game meat quality, and that according to the WHO, processed game meat is carcinogenic — like cigarettes, asbestos, or arsenic?
that according to studies, nowhere is the lead contamination of golden eagles and bearded vultures higher than in the Swiss Alps, due to ammunition used by hobby hunters?
that the fair chase ethos of hobby hunters stands in direct contradiction to animal protection law and is nothing but a mirage?
that hunting is war, where animal competitors are simply eliminated?
that there are countless illegal and unmarked hunting blinds in our countryside, some so rotten that they pose a danger to children and could cause people to fall to their deaths?
that year after year, countless people are killed or injured by hunters’ weapons — some so severely that they end up in wheelchairs or have limbs amputated?
that in Switzerland, around 120,000 perfectly healthy roe deer, red deer, foxes, marmots, and chamois are killed each year, mostly for no good reason?
that because of hobby hunters, it has become nearly impossible to live in harmony with wildlife or even to see wild animals today?
that shotgun blasts make hares shriek like small children, and that “shot” roe deer and red deer have their entrails torn apart so that they leave a trail of blood for hunters to follow?
that the hobby hunters’ claim that these cruel wildlife massacres are necessary to regulate animal populations has been scientifically refuted?
that hobby hunters openly admit that hunting is about the “pleasure of killing” and “the joy of making a kill” — a pathological obsession?
that hobby hunters lack a sixth sense and yet regularly claim to shoot only sick and weak animals — which, of course, is not true in practice?
that hobby hunters travel abroad for trophy hunting, far removed from any species protection or hunting regulations, and that there are even Swiss hobby hunter travel agencies organizing such mindless hunting pleasures?
that the vast majority are not legitimate professional hunters, but pursue hunting as a hobby, sport, and recreational pastime — which is immoral and actually contradicts the Animal Welfare Act?
that 99.07% of civilized people in Switzerland are not hobby hunters, meaning only 0.3% of hobby hunters take pleasure in these bloody activities?
that these wildlife killers do not hunt on the basis of scientific justifications?
that protected species do not actually belong under hunting law, because hobby hunters are overwhelmed by the demands of species protection and repeatedly shoot animals listed on the Red List — such as lynx, wolf, brown hare, grey partridge, quail, etc. — purely for fun?
that hobby hunters deliberately decimate certain animal species in order to eliminate competition for their unnatural behavior (fox, lynx, wolf, birds of prey, etc.)?
that wildlife dies before the hobby hunter can even fire a single shot, that preventing this is the goal, and that this is arguably the central idea behind wildlife stewardship, habitat management, and hunting planning?
that with wild boar (and foxes), normally only the lead sow produces young — but due to her being shot, all female animals within the sounder begin to reproduce, which is one of the reasons we have a wild boar population explosion?
that grazing animals — deer, roe deer, etc. — originally lived primarily as diurnal animals in fields and meadows, like goats, sheep, and cows, and not in forests?
that the wolf is vital in the long term for keeping wild ungulates healthy, because it hunts sick or weak animals with remarkable precision, for example, and is therefore far superior to hobby hunters?
that foxes usually end up in the rubbish after senseless hunting?
that foxes today are hunted primarily so that there are more hares, etc. for hobby hunters’ frying pans? Yet the fox’s diet consists of more than 90% non-hare prey, and it would never catch a healthy hare?
that in animal welfare advocacy against hobby hunters, one cannot rely solely on gentle approaches, street festivals, prayer chains, etc. — sometimes you have to fight fire with fire?
that hobby hunters use hunting tall tales to engage in a disrespectful mockery of living beings?
that it is frowned upon to shoot big game at feeding stations or during the mating season, yet hobby hunters have no scruples about doing exactly this to their competitor the fox?
that in some cantons hobby hunters go hunting solely for the sake of the tender meat of a young animal?
that hobby hunters shoot pregnant mother animals in front of their young, or target only young animals during the rearing period (post-special hunt)?
that hobby hunters poison the environment, nature, humans, and animals with their ammunition?
that bestiality, barbarism, cruelty, bloodshed, and senseless suffering cannot be considered cultural assets in a civilized society?
that hobby hunters shoot approximately 10’000 roe deer fawns every year?
that during harsh winters, hobby hunters lure starving animals with food only to shoot them in a treacherous and cowardly manner?
that hobby hunters drive trained dogs into burrows to eliminate foxes and badgers (earth hunting)?
that hobby hunters lure peaceful living beings into box traps, where they may suffer for days awaiting their killer, or often subject animals to an agonizing death struggle lasting hours (trap hunting)?
that hobby hunters cowardly ambush and kill or injure peaceful wild animals while they are sleeping or sunbathing, using state-of-the-art precision weapons?
that hobby hunters support awards, fur markets, prize ceremonies for trophy culture, trophy shows, the fur trade, and so on?
that hobby hunters place firearms into the hands of underage schoolchildren and practice killing with them?
that hobby hunters often carry out their cruel acts in remote isolation, which encourages animal cruelty?
that hobby hunters seriously injure many wild animals, and the victims often suffer for hours in tremendous pain and fear until a tracking dog finds them and they are shot?
that hobby hunters (apart from vivisection) inflict the most suffering and abuse on animals, including through the manner in which they kill?
that the hunter's supposed love of animals and nature takes no joy in the existence of the beloved creature, but rather aims to possess it body and soul, culminating in the act of killing it and making it prey?
that hobby hunters actively promote browsing damage through hunting pressure, particularly on predators such as fox, lynx, and wolf?
that hobby hunters are responsible for antisocial, unethical, and unchristliches Verhalten Tür und Tor öffnen?
that hobby hunters withhold normal, natural wildlife observations and interactions from the public?
that there is no greater product of suffering — and one more contaminated with ammunition residue — than game meat?
that there is no uniform nationwide regulation in Switzerland regarding vision tests, shooting practice, etc. for hobby hunters?
that there is no psychological personality assessment for hobby hunters?
that there is no alcohol ban for hobby hunters when they shoot at animals with their weapons?
that hobby hunters intrude into school facilities to push their hunting tales and their culture of violence on children?
that a court in Bellinzona recently confirmed that hunting clubs promote practically everything that is cruel, unnecessary, and heartless?
that the association «Jagd Schweiz» cultivates above all disrespect and a culture of violence — the exact opposite of what a civilised person in our society should aspire to.
that in the canton of Graubünden alone, over 1’000 complaints and fines are issued against hobby hunters every year?

That is why we commend the canton of Geneva, with its professional wildlife management without hobby hunters, but with dedicated game wardens. On the shores of Lake Geneva there are vineyards and other cultivated areas, just as in the rest of Switzerland. Evidently, however, they have adopted humane and ethical approaches to dealing with wildlife, along with intelligent measures to protect crops. In Geneva, foxes, martens, or badgers are not culled simply because it is hunting season — as is also reflected in the federal hunting statistics. Instead, practical deterrent measures, meaningful public education and assistance, and further training are carried out in collaboration with game wardens. Safety, animal welfare, and ethics are the guiding principles.

Online Petitions

Further Information

Sources

Hobby hunters in criminal proceedings: The List

Interessengemeinschaft Wild beim Wild

The IG Wild beim Wild is a non-profit advocacy organization committed to the sustainable and non-violent improvement of the human-animal relationship, with a specialization in the legal aspects of wildlife protection. One of our main concerns is to introduce a modern and serious wildlife management system in the cultivated landscape, modeled after the Canton of Geneva — without hobby hunters, but with upstanding wildlife wardens who truly deserve the title and act according to a code of ethics. The monopoly on the use of force belongs in the hands of the state. The IG supports scientific methods of immunocontraception for wildlife.

More on the topic of hobby hunting:In our hunting dossier we bring together fact checks, analyses, and background reports.