Canton of Graubünden Poaches Grey Herons
Apparently, it is not only individuals but also cantons that engage in poaching. And they are supposed to receive more hunting authority? NO to the Hunting Act on 27.9.2020!
The Canton of Graubünden has shot 75 grey herons in recent years without a legally valid permit.
Under the federal Hunting Act, killing animals of protected species without authorisation is an offence punishable by a custodial sentence of up to one year or a fine.
Other cantons had followed a similar approach until five years ago, but most of them changed their practice following a Federal Supreme Court ruling. What is going wrong here?
The Canton of Graubünden knows exactly how it would need to proceed if it wishes to shoot protected animals such as the grey heron : it would need to demonstrate that the culling is necessary due to significant damage, and it would need to issue a formal order, publish it, and make it accessible to judicial review by the courts. Both are required under current hunting law. Yet the Canton of Graubünden has done neither, and has nonetheless shot 75 protected grey herons over the past four years. Such cases reveal the extent of wildlife crime even at an official level.
Clear Requirements from the Federal Supreme Court
In spring 2015, the Federal Supreme Court clearly established that a permit is required for the culling of protected species. This has been the case since the Hunting Act came into force in 1988, and the Federal Supreme Court expressly confirmed it five years ago. Following the ruling from Lausanne, all cantonal hunting authorities in Switzerland received clear guidance from the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). Yet the Canton of Graubünden has not complied with it for years. Federal Supreme Court decisions apply throughout Switzerland, and at the end of 2017 nature conservation organisations had engaged in intensive discussions with the canton regarding the unjustified culling of grey herons and called on it to comply with the law. Nevertheless, the cantonal government was forced to admit in response to a parliamentary question in the Grand Council that a further 8 herons had been shot in 2019.
Graubünden's authorities are not the only ones to have disregarded the law. The Federal Court ruling of 2015 came after years of wrangling between the canton of Bern and BirdLife Switzerland. At the time, the canton of Bern had also refused to justify and publish the shooting of hundreds of grey herons in the years before 2015 by means of an official order. It lost before the Federal Court. At least Bern has complied with the decision of the highest judges ever since. However, the hunting statistics show that a further four cantons have shot small numbers of grey herons without a permit since 2016.
Heron massacre in Fribourg stopped in time
And even more cantons have a particular history when it comes to grey heron culls. The canton of Zurich shot 138 grey herons without an official order since the turn of the millennium, but stopped doing so in 2013. Just over ten years ago, the canton of Fribourg attempted a special approach: it authorised the shooting of 170 grey herons as “individual culls”. In this way, it sought to circumvent the fact that federal approval is required for such a massive intervention in the population. Under current hunting law, population management measures — which is what the Fribourg case effectively amounted to — require federal consent, whereas individual culls may be authorised by the cantons themselves. The canton of Fribourg also suffered a clear defeat before the Federal Court in 2009; the grey heron massacre was thus stopped in time.
Giving cantonal authorities more power in dealing with protected animals?
Under the current Hunting Act, regulation of protected species is possible with federal approval when the animals are genuinely causing damage. The damage must be substantial and properly documented. Both individual culls and population management measures must be authorised and the orders published. However, this clear regulation is now set to be abolished through the revision of the Hunting Act, which will be put to a vote on 27 September: the cantonal authorities — some of which failed to comply with hunting and protection legislation regarding grey herons for years — could in future decide independently on population management of protected species included on the regulation list.
The environmental organizations called for a referendum against this hunting law revision. The vote took place on 27 September 2020. «The grey heron is not yet on the regulation list according to the first draft of the hunting ordinance,» explains Werner Müller, Executive Director of BirdLife Switzerland, «but if the hunting law were approved on 27 September, parliament could quickly force the Federal Council to change that.» In the National Council in 2019, only four votes had been missing to declare the grey heron regulable directly in the law. Werner Müller considers it problematic to grant cantons that have been disregarding the law for years — as in the case of the grey heron — even more powers in dealing with protected species.
