Criminal complaint over hunting shooting range in the canton of Zurich

The criminal complaint is directed against the operators of the hunting shooting range, Jagd Zürich, Jagd-Club Zürich, and the Hunting & Fisheries Administration of the Canton of Zurich. In the view of the association Pro Töss-Auen, the municipality, the canton, and the operators have been committing serious violations of nature conservation requirements for decades.

The association has also filed a supervisory complaint against the municipality of Embrach and the Canton of Zurich. It considers the authorities to have an obligation to finally close the shooting range.

20 to 30 tonnes of pollutants annually

At the Embrach hunting shooting range, as a result of shooting activities in a federally protected nature reserve, 20 to 30 tonnes of pollutant-laden clay target fragments and ammunition are deposited every year, since only the portion of used targets and shot cups that can be collected with a suction device is removed. Of the approximately 10 to 15 tonnes of spent ammunition, lead, and steel, the lion’s share naturally remains on site, as these projectiles fly a considerable distance with great force, landing in the Töss river and on the opposite bank.

The remediation of the entire surrounding area is expected to cost several million and is to be paid for by the taxpayer rather than by the hobby hunters.

The Director of Construction responsible since 2007, Markus Kägi (SVP), is a passionate hobby hunter who also conducts his environmentally damaging shooting practice in that nature reserve.

Of the 18 wildlife corridors of supra-regional importance in the Canton of Zurich, 16 are still impaired or severed.

Popular vote «Wildlife wardens instead of hunters»

The popular vote concerns whether the canton of Zurich should introduce “a canton-wide wildlife management system with professionally trained wildlife wardens” to replace the at-risk group of amateur hobby hunters. Following the model of the canton of Geneva, the focus should be on the natural regulation of wildlife populations. This system has proven itself cost-effectively and to everyone’s satisfaction in the canton of Geneva for over 40 years, and is widely recognized as a model by experts well beyond the country’s borders.

Wildlife wardens should wild animals no longer be subjected to gratuitous cruelty and/or shooting (200 healthy foxes per month in Zurich, songbirds, waterfowl, etc.). Such “nature conservation à la hobby hunter” no longer has a place in a civilized society.

Hobby hunting in the canton of Zurich largely protects and benefits nothing. Not even the hare, which is on the red list.

IG Wild beim Wild

The Geneva model as a blueprint

The territory-based hunting system in the canton of Zurich has not proven itself and has been an unscientific, animal welfare-incompatible, cost-intensive, and ecological patchwork for nearly 100 years.

The canton of Geneva is decades ahead with its modern wildlife management using wildlife wardens. There, no driven or push hunts with barking hunting dogs are needed — even though large numbers of wild animals constantly flee from surrounding areas into the canton of Geneva (wild boar in particular) and remain there when driven hunts are practiced in France or the canton of Vaud. More on the animal welfare problems of hobby hunting and why hobby hunting fails as a population control tool.