Wolf Management Switzerland: Controversies Surrounding the Autumn Hunt
The association Wildtierschutz Schweiz has filed a complaint against the planned regulation of juvenile wolves.
The association argues that the shooting of juvenile wolves violates the applicable hunting law, as the pups have generally not caused any damage and pose no danger to humans.
The association Wildtierschutz Schweiz demands that the hunt be halted for as long as the complaints are still being processed.
The Administrative Court of Graubünden has dismissed the complaint and requested additional documentation. The association has until 20 September to submit these documents, as association president Roberto A. Babst explains. “We will now do so with the support of legal counsel,” he says.
The association, headquartered in Zizers, has also filed an administrative complaint in the cantons of Valais, Vaud, St. Gallen and Ticino, as it states in a press release.
In the meantime, the canton has published information on the autumn hunt, but has omitted the wolf culls.
The first days of the autumn hunt were marked by mild temperatures and föhn winds, meaning the hunting yield was likely only moderate. However, the number of red deer, roe deer and chamois taken remains unknown. The hunt was hampered by changeable weather and an abundance of food at higher elevations.
In total, around 5’200 recreational hunters are participating in this year's autumn hunt. Due to the weather, it is assumed that fewer red deer were shot, and that hunters shifted their focus more towards chamois. It is difficult to estimate how many roe deer were shot.
There are no current figures on wolf culls. The canton will provide a summary at the beginning of October.
The second block of the high hunt begins on Monday and runs until September 29. As temperatures drop and snow falls, the deer move to lower elevations – and these in turn are optimal conditions for hunting.
Join the campaign: Contact your municipality, citing the catastrophic policies of Federal Councillor Albert Rösti (SVP), to request a tax exemption on federal and cantonal taxes in light of the recently approved wolf culls in Switzerland. You can download the template letter here: https://wildbeimwild.com/ein-appell-fuer-eine-veraenderung-in-der-schweiz/
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier The Role and Criticism of Recreational Hunters we shed light on the training, power and self-image of recreational hunters. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
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.
