Earth hunting
Earth hunting means that hunting dogs are sent into fox or badger setts to harass predators underground so that they can be shot outside. What happens down there escapes public scrutiny: underground confrontations, bites, blockages in the narrow tunnel system, serious injuries, for the wild animal and for the dog alike. A legal opinion by the foundation Tier im Recht concludes that the practice of earth hunting can repeatedly constitute animal cruelty under animal welfare law.
Several Swiss cantons have drawn the consequences. Thurgau was the first canton to ban earth hunting, in 2017, by a decision of its cantonal parliament. Zurich followed on 1 January 2023 with a new cantonal hunting act. Basel-Landschaft has imposed a ban in principle, with exceptions. Bern decided in 2024 on a far-reaching ban with narrowly defined exemptions. The canton of Vaud banned earth hunting on 15 December 2021. At federal level, by contrast, Motion 23.3303 'Ban on cruel earth hunting' failed: in 2023 the Federal Council recommended its rejection, the National Council never debated it, and in March 2025 it was written off. The trend in the cantons is nonetheless clear, and it can also be applied to cantons that do not yet have a binding rule.
What awaits you here
- What earth hunting is and how it works: method, procedure, the animals involved and the Solothurn Government Council decision as a primary source.
- The core problem: invisibility and lack of oversight: why earth hunting takes place precisely where public scrutiny is least possible.
- Animal suffering is systemic, not an isolated case: what the legal opinion by Tier im Recht specifically states.
- Artificial training setts: the training industry of earth hunting: what happens to foxes in artificial training sett facilities and what the German Animal Welfare Federation says about it.
- Current cantonal legal situation: status in 2026: who has banned it, who has not yet, and where exemptions undermine the ban.
- Motion 23.3303: earth hunting as a federal policy issue: why the Confederation is not acting and what that means for the cantons.
- JagdSchweiz arguments and their rebuttal: the lobby's positions put to a fact check.
- Demands of IG Wild beim Wild: What a genuine, watertight ban would mean.
- What you can do: Options for action for private individuals, organisations and political actors.
- Quick links: All evidence, court sources, media reports and dossier contributions.
What earth hunting is and how it works
Earth hunting is a form of hunting in which a so-called earth dog is sent into the burrow of a fox or badger. The dog enters the burrow (a branching underground system of tunnels), harries the wild animal and drives it outwards through the passages. Outside, recreational hunters position themselves around the burrow and try to kill the fox or badger as it emerges. This is how a Solothurn Government Council decision describes it, directly and bluntly.
Badgers and foxes are the main target animals of earth hunting. Both species may be hunted in Switzerland (Art. 5 JSG); in 2025, according to Federal Hunting Statistics 20,938 foxes and 3,166 badgers were killed. Under federal law, earth hunting is prohibited only in respect of gassing and smoking out burrows, digging out badgers, tongs and drills, driving shots and the use of more than one dog per burrow (Art. 2 para. 1 lit. c JSV). Whether earth hunting is permitted at all is decided by the cantons. Crucially, earth hunting is never a control hunt requiring proven damage as a precondition. It is used as a regular hunting method, in other words as recreational hunting carried out out of sight.
More on this: Hunting in Switzerland: figures, systems and myths and Trap hunting in Switzerland
The core problem: invisibility and lack of oversight
Earth hunting takes place underground. What happens in the burrow escapes any public scrutiny. Contact between dog and wild animal in the cramped tunnel system, bites, blockages, exhaustion and states of panic are not merely possible, they are structurally likely, because two animals of different species meet in a minimal space with no means of escape.
Even if someone claims that earth hunting is carried out 'cleanly', the method structurally produces situations that cannot be controlled. Dogs get stuck in the burrow and suffocate: this is not an isolated case but a recognised risk that is discussed internally in hunting circles. Wild animals die in the burrow, injured and with no way out. For the public, for independent oversight bodies and for animal welfare, all of this is invisible. This is not a characteristic that better training can remedy. It is the structural hallmark of a method that operates in concealment.
More on this: Hunting laws and oversight: why self-supervision is not enough and Hunting and Animal Welfare: What the Practice Does to Wild Animals
Animal suffering is systemic, not an isolated case
The legal opinion «Die Baujagd unter dem Aspekt des Tierschutz- und Jagdrechts» (Earth Hunting from the Perspective of Animal Welfare and Hunting Law) by the Tier im Recht Foundation (written by Gieri Bolliger, Andreas Rüttimann and Vanessa Gerritsen, 2012, Schriften zum Tier im Recht, Volume 10) is the foundational legal analysis of earth hunting in Switzerland. Its finding is clear: under animal welfare law, the practice of earth hunting can in several respects constitute animal cruelty under Art. 26 para. 1 of the Animal Welfare Act (TSchG).
The motion by Casimir von Arx (GLP) in the canton of Bern (supported by the SVP, EVP, FDP, SP, Greens and Mitte) states: «Carrying out earth hunts is, as a rule, not necessary. Nor can a lasting regulatory effect on fox or badger populations be demonstrated.» The Bernese cantonal government shares this assessment: earth hunting is now only rarely practised, has no region-wide regulatory effect on populations, and injuries to dogs and wild animals occur again and again. It recommended that the motion be accepted.
More on this: Why animal welfare law ends at the forest edge and Earth hunting: legal animal cruelty in the name of hunting tradition
Training tunnels: the training industry of earth hunting
Earth hunting has its own training industry: artificial training tunnels. These are man-made underground tunnel systems in which hunting dogs are prepared for use in real fox dens. A fox serves as the «stimulus», often separated from the dog by a grille, but in direct contact with the animal pressing in on it.
The German Animal Welfare Federation (Deutscher Tierschutzbund) states unequivocally: «The use of foxes in training tunnels must be classified as contrary to animal welfare. In training tunnels, one animal is used to train another. This violates the Animal Welfare Act. Even if the fox and the dog are kept apart by a grille, the procedure causes great stress for the foxes, which moreover have to spend their entire lives in small enclosures.» The Tier im Recht opinion notes that training burrow dogs in an artificial den with live foxes can involve «enormous suffering and fear» for the foxes. A fox in a training tunnel is not a piece of training equipment. It is a sentient animal, kept permanently in a situation that structurally generates fear and stress for it.
More on this: Hunting dogs deployed in recreational hunting and Hunting myths: 12 claims you should scrutinise critically
Current cantonal legal situation: as of 2026
The trend is unmistakable and points in one direction: away from earth hunting. The current overview:
| Canton | Earth hunting status |
|---|---|
| Thurgau | Banned since 2017 (first canton); exceptions possible by the department |
| Zurich | Banned since 1 January 2023 (new cantonal hunting act) |
| Vaud | Banned since 15 December 2021 |
| Basel-Landschaft | Banned in principle under the 2020 revision of the hunting act; exceptions possible with a permit |
| Bern | Extensive ban adopted; exceptions only with official approval and cumulative conditions |
| Geneva | No recreational hunting since 1974, and therefore no earth hunting either |
| Valais | Permitted; under Patent E, earth hunting with dogs is expressly allowed, with kill bounties for fox and badger on top |
| Other cantons | No uniform nationwide rules; still permitted or in a legal grey area in many cantons |
What matters is the pattern behind the exceptions: a 'ban with exceptions' is only as good as its control mechanisms. Where exemption permits are granted on soft criteria, without independent review, the ban can remain largely ineffective in practice.
More on this: Hunting Laws and Control and template texts for hunting-critical motions in cantonal parliaments
Motion 23.3303: earth hunting as a federal policy issue
At federal level, SP National Councillor Martina Munz submitted Motion 23.3303 'Ban on cruel earth hunting' in March 2023. In May 2023, the Federal Council recommended its rejection: the hunting ordinance, amended in 2012, already prevented 'unjustified burdens' on foxes and hunting dogs, and the choice of hunting methods was a matter for the cantons. The National Council never dealt with the motion; in March 2025 it was written off without having been debated. The motion was not the first federal initiative on the subject: as early as 2002, Councillor of States Christine Beerli submitted Motion 02.3737 'Ban on earth hunting and improvements in follow-up searches'. This shows that the earth hunting debate is nothing new. It is addressed politically again and again, and sustained pressure from civil society is needed for it to lead to a binding outcome at federal level too.
Cantons with governments friendly to hunting can retain earth hunting de facto through exceptions and enforcement gaps, as long as there is no federal law setting clear minimum standards. The failed Motion 23.3303 therefore shows where the lever lies: as long as the Federal Council regards earth hunting as sufficiently regulated, a new initiative and sustained pressure from the cantons are needed for a ban without loopholes.
More on this: Ban on cruel trap hunting and decoy hunting (template motion) and Taking action against recreational hunting
JagdSchweiz arguments and their rebuttal
'Earth hunting is necessary for biodiversity.' JagdSchweiz argues that earth hunting helps regulate predators that supposedly endanger ground-nesting birds. This narrative ignores that the main causes of species decline (habitat loss, intensive farming, pesticides, light pollution) are not addressed by earth hunting. “Biodiversity” is stuck on as a label for a practice that is problematic from an animal welfare perspective and whose effect on bird populations is neither proven nor quantified. The Bern cantonal government states explicitly: “A lasting regulatory effect on fox or badger populations cannot be demonstrated.”
“There are hardly any fights.” Even where no direct fight takes place, the method is structurally risky: dog and wild animal in a minimal space, with no way to escape. Stress, panic and fear arise even without direct contact. And what actually happens underground can never be publicly monitored. Neither the claim of “hardly any fights” nor its opposite can be independently verified. That is precisely the problem.
“That is tradition.” Tradition is no justification for animal suffering. Cockfighting, bear-baiting and bullfighting are also old traditions. Modern societies have banned them because animal welfare and social values have evolved. Several Swiss cantons have already taken this step for earth hunting. That is not an attack on tradition; it is social maturity.
Demands of IG Wild beim Wild
- A Switzerland-wide ban on earth hunting without loopholes: Exceptions are only possible in documented, serious emergencies, with approval from an independent authority and with mandatory monitoring of outcomes – not as a standard instrument of hunting.
- A ban on artificial training burrows: Any training in which wild animals are used as training objects is unacceptable under animal welfare law. This also applies to wild boar enclosures, training enclosures and comparable facilities.
- Duty of transparency: Public statistics on earth hunting operations, exemption permits granted, incidents, injured dogs and wild animals, and follow-up inspections.
- Independent oversight: Oversight by bodies that are not organised close to the hunting community and have no structural conflicts of interest with the hunting lobby.
What you can do
- Document: Record and report any signs of earth hunting operations or training burrows in your area, noting the location, date, photos and signage.
- Write to your canton: Demand clear rules: not a “ban with soft exceptions”, but binding conditions, strict criteria and independent oversight.
- Political monitoring: Following the write-off of Motion 23.3303, a new initiative at federal level is needed: approach members of the National Council directly.
- Share the dossier: So that earth hunting does not remain in the dark – quite literally.
Quick links
Articles on Wild beim Wild:
- Earth hunting: legal animal cruelty in the name of hunting tradition
- What is earth hunting and why is it controversial?
- Low-ground hunt 2026: What Grisons, Ticino and Valais are releasing for the kill
- Ban on cruel trap hunting and decoy hunting (template motion)
- Arguments against recreational hunters
Related dossiers:
- Hunting and Wildlife Diseases
- Night hunting and high-tech: the myth of fair hunting
- Hunting Dogs: Use, Suffering and Animal Welfare
- Lead ammunition: the toxic legacy of recreational hunting
- High hunt Switzerland: Traditional ritual and stress test
- Swine fever as a justification for recreational hunting
- Hunting Accidents in Switzerland
- Hunting and Animal Welfare: What the Practice Does to Wild Animals
- Hunting and Weapons
- Driven Hunt in Switzerland
- Wait Hunting: Waiting, Technology and Risks
- Earth hunting
- Trap hunting
- Wait hunting
- Special Hunt in Grisons
- Swiss Hunting Statistics 2025: What the Federal Figures Show
- Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland: Systematic impunity and the limits of self-control
Our Standard
Earth hunting is a form of hunting that takes place out of sight, underground, beyond any possibility of oversight. That is precisely why it has been able to persist for so long: what nobody sees, nobody criticises. The legal opinion by Tier im Recht has made clear what this method means in legal terms. Several cantons have drawn the right conclusions from it. What is still missing is a comprehensive federal ban without exceptions that undermine the prohibition in practice.
IG Wild beim Wild documents the state of the debate, the legal situation in the cantons and the arguments of the hunting lobby, so that political actors, the media and the public can decide on a solid factual basis. This dossier is updated continuously whenever new cantonal decisions, parliamentary initiatives or court rulings make it necessary.
Call to action: Do you know of earth hunting operations or training facilities for dogs in your region? Report them with date, location and photos: wildbeimwild.com/kontakt
More on the topic of recreational hunting: in our hunting dossier we bring together fact checks, analyses and background reports.
