Court Ruling on Wolf Regulation

At the end of November 2023, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) approved the cantons of Graubünden and Valais in their requests to preventively cull certain wolf populations.

With corresponding orders, the departments responsible in the cantons authorised the culling by the cantonal wildlife wardens. Against the two decisions of the FOEN, the nature conservation organisations Pro Natura, WWF Switzerland and BirdLife Switzerland filed complaints with the Federal Administrative Court (FAC) on 7 and 11 December 2023 respectively. In early January 2024, the FAC confirmed the suspensive effect of the complaints.

Preventive Clarification of the Legal Situation

The FOEN approved the regulation of wolf populations until 31 January 2024. Due to the passage of time, there is no longer a current legal interest in protection. However, the contested legal question of whether an associational appeal against the FOEN's approval order can be filed at all could arise every year. In view of this, the FAC exceptionally waives the requirement of a current legal interest in protection and clarifies the legal situation with the present rulings.

In order to safeguard the general interests of nature and heritage conservation, the corresponding federal law grants environmental organisations active throughout Switzerland the right to file a complaint against projects or orders of an authority by means of a so-called associational appeal.

The Federal Administrative Court (BVGer) establishes that the regulation of wolf populations can only be ordered or revoked by a cantonal decree. The FOEN can neither order nor lift population regulations. Any organizational appeals can only relate to the cantonal decree, whereby the review of legal conformity is the responsibility of the cantonal authorities. If the FOEN's approval decision were also subject to judicial review by the Federal Administrative Court, this would create duplications that would lead to legal uncertainty. No organizational appeal can therefore be lodged against the FOEN's approval decree. The BVGer consequently does not consider the appeals.

These rulings can be challenged before the Federal Supreme Court.

Further articles

• Swiss meadows are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate
• When sheep, cattle and others occupy wildlife habitat
• Swiss animal protection organization criticizes planned wolf culls as a threat to pack structures and herd protection
• Wolf incompetence runs rampant in Graubünden
• Val Fex: When the herd protection concept has more gaps than the fence
• Culling instead of protection – Switzerland on the path to the silent extermination of wolves
• Communication failure at the Office for Hunting and Fishing in Graubünden
• Illegal wolf hunting in Switzerland
• Wolf cubs in Switzerland in the crossfire
• Switzerland sells massacre of wolves as a success
• Sloppiness in the office of Katrin Schneeberger
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• The senseless hunt for wolves in Switzerland
• The truth about sheep mortality in Switzerland: causes and statistics
• Wolf culls in Switzerland: concerns over party politician Albert Rösti
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• Participatory campaign: An appeal for change in Switzerland
• 200 environmental organizations from 6 continents call on the Swiss government: Stop the wolf cull
• Federal Council comes under heavy criticism from wolf experts
• The consequences of controversial wolf management in Switzerland
• Wolf: Federal Councillor Rösti (SVP) circumvents law and order
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• Federal Councillor Albert Rösti tramples the will of the people
• The consequences of controversial wolf management in Switzerland
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• Pro Natura calls for comprehensive strategy for summer sheep grazing
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• Thanks to livestock protection measures, wolves in Switzerland kill fewer farm animals
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• The double standard of wolf opponents