An introduction to hunting criticism

In Switzerland, 35 per cent of all animal and plant species are endangered – in no neighbouring country is the proportion of threatened species greater. Switzerland has the smallest share of protected areas in all of Europe: just around 10 per cent of the country's surface area. At the same time, around 120,000 wild animals are killed each year through hobby hunting – including 10,000 roe deer fawns. And 64 per cent of the Swiss population speak out in favour of a ban on earth hunting in representative surveys; 79 per cent are critical of hobby hunting overall.

These figures stand alongside a persistent narrative: that hobby hunting is nature conservation. That hobby hunters are guardians of nature. That without them, wildlife populations would explode. That anyone claiming the opposite does not understand nature.

Those who know the facts understand the opposite. This dossier brings together the most important scientific, ethical, health-related, social and political arguments against hobby hunting in its present form. It is aimed at everyone who wants to discover the subject anew, sharpen their own position, or discuss it on a factual basis. It is not an emotional outcry. It is a sober assessment of what hobby hunting is, what effects it has – and what would be possible instead. Anyone wishing to delve deeper will find in our dossier on hunting in Switzerland the most comprehensive body of material.

What awaits you here

Why hobby hunting is ethically indefensible: What it means to kill sentient beings for leisure pleasure, why mis-shots and follow-up searches are structural problems, and why a «desire to kill» is not a cultural value.
Why hobby hunting is ecologically counterproductive: How hunting pressure destabilises populations rather than regulating them, why hunting-free areas show greater biodiversity, and what the destruction of social structures means for wild animals.
Why game meat is not a natural product: What the Federal Food Safety Office (BLV) recommends regarding lead in game meat, why pregnant women, children and women of childbearing age should not eat game, and what stress hormones in the meat reveal about the final minutes of the prey.
Why the population rejects hobby hunting – and politics protects it nonetheless: Survey data, lobbying structures and why hunting associations have for decades successfully prevented what a broad social majority wants.
Why hobby hunting is, psychologically, not a neutral hobby: What behavioural psychology, animal rights research and studies on aggression and the trophy cult reveal about hobby hunters – and why this is relevant to society.
Why hobby hunting shares responsibility for the biodiversity crisis in Switzerland: A third of species threatened, the smallest share of protected areas in Europe, decades of lobby blockades against national parks and protected zones.
«Did you know?» – 40 facts that refute the hunting narrative.
Why alternatives to hobby hunting exist and have been proven: Natural regulation, promotion of predators, game warden models, habitat protection.
What would need to change: Concrete political demands.
Argumentation: Answers to the most common justifications of the hobby hunting lobby.
Quick links: All relevant articles, studies and dossiers.

Ethics: When killing is not conservation

Wild animals are sentient beings. They know pain, fear and social bonds. They flee when they perceive a threat. They grieve when social groups are torn apart. This is not a sentimental claim but scientific consensus, internationally recognised among others in the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness of 2012. On this basis, the ethical starting question of hunting criticism is not a difficult one: what justification is there for killing sentient beings for recreational pleasure?

The answers given by the hobby hunting lobby – regulation, conservation, tradition – are refuted individually in other chapters of this dossier. What remains is the core: hobby hunting in Switzerland today is not a necessity for survival. It is a hobby. A hobby that means the death of around 120,000 wild animals per year in Switzerland, a substantial proportion of which die not instantly but after minutes or hours in pain. Faulty kills – hits that do not kill immediately – are not an exception within the hunting system but a systematically occurring reality: in the canton of Grisons, around 1,000 charges and fines against hobby hunters each year document the extent of technical errors and shots fired in breach of the rules.

A society that criminalises cruelty to animals in the home, but finances and politically protects the very same act when committed against wild animals in the forest, has a consistency problem. Switzerland's animal welfare act does not apply beyond the forest's edge. Anyone who wants to change this must first name what hobby hunting in its present form actually is: an armed leisure pursuit whose central purpose is the killing of living beings – and whose legitimacy rests on narratives that do not withstand factual scrutiny.

More on this: Hunting and animal welfare: what the practice does to wild animals and Wild animals, mortal fear and the absence of stunning

Ecology: why kills are not regulation

Hobby hunting claims to regulate wildlife populations. Behavioural ecology shows the opposite: it does precisely the reverse. Compensatory reproductive dynamics is the basic biological principle that refutes this argument. Wild animals respond to population losses caused by hunting with a higher birth rate, earlier sexual maturity and larger litters. This mechanism is particularly strikingly documented in wild boars: normally only the lead sow within a sounder reproduces. If she is shot, all the females of the group reproduce. Hunting pressure produces more wild animals, not fewer.

What hobby hunting achieves ecologically is not regulation but the destabilisation of social structures. The killing of experienced lead animals – the lead sow among wild boars, the dominant stag among red deer, the dominant vixen – leaves behind disorganised groups with altered spatial behaviour, increased mobility and intensified browsing pressure on forest trees, because the animals are crowded together in a confined space. The solution that the hunting lobby offers for the browsing damage problem is structurally part of what creates it. Hunting-free areas show the contrasting picture: in the canton of Geneva, biodiversity has demonstrably improved since the hunting ban of 1974, wildlife populations have stabilised, and the bird life has grown from a few hundred to 30’000 wintering guests.

More on this: Why hobby hunting fails as population control

Health: why game meat is not a clean product

The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) recommends: children up to the age of seven, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and women wishing to have children should, as far as possible, avoid eating game that has been killed with lead ammunition. This is not a hunting-critical campaign statement. It is an official recommendation based on measurable findings. The Swiss Animal Welfare Association (STS) examined game meat products from domestic hobby hunting for lead content: in 5 out of 13 samples, lead was detected at concentrations above the reference value. A German study by the Federal Office of Consumer Protection (BVL) found lead residues in around three quarters of all examined sausage products containing game.

Lead is toxic to the human organism even in small amounts: it damages blood formation, the liver, the kidneys and the central nervous system. For growing children the consequences are particularly severe – nerve damage and disorders of brain development have been documented. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) states: «Lead is harmful even in small amounts.» Added to this are stress hormones: wild animals that were hunted, startled or wounded before their death show drastically elevated cortisol levels in their blood and meat. What is marketed as a «close-to-nature product» is, biologically speaking, the end product of an acute process of fear and dying.

More on this: Game meat from hunters is carrion and Lead residues in game meat products and Hobby hunters poison birds of prey

Society: why the majority says no – and politics protects anyway

Public acceptance of hobby hunting is declining. This is not a claim by hunting opponents, but an empirically substantiated finding. The WaMoS-2 survey shows that 79 per cent of the Swiss population criticise hunting in some form – 19 per cent are fundamentally opposed to it or in favour of its abolition. The Demoscope survey commissioned by the Swiss Animal Welfare Association shows that 64 per cent support a ban on earth hunting, with only 21 per cent wishing to retain it. The rejection spans generations, without a Röstigraben, and is particularly pronounced among women and young people.

At the same time, politics protects hobby hunting with remarkable consistency. Through political influence, constitutional mandates and media presence, hunting associations secure privileges that contradict the will of the majority of the population. In the canton of Zurich, the initiative «Game wardens instead of hunters» failed in 2022 with 16.1 per cent of yes votes: not because of the persuasive power of the hunting lobby's arguments, but because of a mobilisation gap among a hitherto barely politicised majority of the population. The debate is asymmetrical: hobby hunters are organised, funded and politically networked. Wild animals have no voice. And the large majority that has no interest in hunting has so far had no political body that consistently represents its position.

More on this: Jagd Schweiz: The Swiss population is poorly informed and Template texts for hunting-critical motions in cantonal parliaments

Psychology: What the trophy cult and the lust for killing reveal

Hobby hunting is the only socially accepted leisure activity whose central content is the killing of a living being. That this content requires a psychological classification is not an insinuation, but scientific curiosity. Behavioural psychologists and criminal psychologists who describe animal cruelty as an early indicator of violence against humans do so on the basis of a well-documented finding: the ability to ignore the suffering of others or to treat it as irrelevant is a cognitive skill – and it is not limited to one animal species.

The trophy cult is the visible expression of this structure: the preparation and display of the killed animal as a demonstration of hunting success, status and control. Experts from social psychology describe this practice as an expression of aggression, a striving for power and the desire to have control over the life and death of another living being. The hunter's «love of animals and nature» is not aimed at the existence of the beloved object, but at its possession – and culminates in the act of killing. This is not a blanket condemnation of all hobby hunters. It is the structural logic of the system within which they operate. Added to this is a concrete security dimension: hunting weapons are involved in suicides, threats and acts of violence. A psychological character test for hobby hunters does not exist in Switzerland. Nor does a ban on alcohol while hunting.

More on this: Psychology of hunting and Studies on the impact of hunting on wild animals and hunters

Biodiversity: Switzerland trailing behind – with shared responsibility on the part of hobby hunting

One third of all animal and plant species in Switzerland is endangered. Half of all habitat types are under pressure. According to the BAFU, 47 per cent of the species studied require action. Switzerland has the smallest proportion of protected areas in Europe – around 10 per cent of its land area, far below the global target of 30 per cent. More than 50 experts at the BAFU conclude in the 2026 Biodiversity Report: «The pressure is immense and the overall condition is still poor.»

The hobby hunting lobby bears structural co-responsibility for this state of affairs. Not alone, but consistently: hunting associations have blocked national parks for decades, because protected areas restrict hunting grounds. They have campaigned against stricter designations of protected areas. They run political lobbying campaigns against predators – wolf, lynx, wildcat – which perform ecologically stabilising functions that no hobby hunter can replace. And they successfully define the political framework for wildlife law, the hunting act and protected areas within a system that protects their own interests, not those of nature. Nature conservation and the hobby hunting lobby pursue structurally opposing goals – even where their rhetoric occasionally overlaps.

More on this: Locarnese National Park fails to materialise and The wolf in Europe – how politics and hobby hunting are eroding species protection

«Did you know?» – 40 facts that refute the hunting narrative

Each year in Switzerland around 120,000 wild animals are killed through hobby hunting – including around 10,000 roe deer fawns.
One third of Switzerland’s animal and plant species is endangered. In none of the neighbouring countries is the proportion of threatened species greater.
Switzerland has the smallest proportion of protected areas in Europe – around 10 per cent of its land area.
Lead contamination in golden eagles and bearded vultures is highest in the Swiss Alps according to studies – caused by ammunition residues from hobby hunting.
The Federal Food Safety Office recommends: children, pregnant women and women wishing to have children should not eat game shot with lead ammunition.
In around three quarters of all game-meat sausage products examined in Germany, lead residues were found.
79 per cent of the Swiss population are critical of hobby hunting.
64 per cent are in favour of a ban on earth hunting, while only 21 per cent wish to retain it.
In the canton of Grisons, around 1’000 reports and fines are issued against hobby hunters each year.
Drive hunts and driven hunts startle wild animals and drive them across roads in mortal fear – hunting pressure is a direct contributing cause of wildlife accidents.
In wild boars, the entire sounder reproduces after the lead sow is shot – hunting pressure produces more wild animals, not fewer.
In the canton of Geneva, which has had no militia hunting since 1974, the bird population has grown from a few hundred to 30’000 wintering visitors.
According to long-term studies, hunting-free areas consistently show higher biodiversity than heavily hunted comparison regions.
Hobby hunters regularly oppose national parks and the designation of protected areas because these restrict their hunting grounds.
A psychological aptitude test for hobby hunters does not exist in Switzerland.
A ban on alcohol while engaging in armed hunting does not exist across the board in Switzerland.
There is no uniform Switzerland-wide regulation on eyesight tests and shooting practice for hobby hunters.
Animals startled during drive hunts demonstrably show drastically elevated stress hormone levels in their meat.
Shotgun loads fired at hares and small game frequently do not cause immediate death, but injuries that lead to a slow death.
Hobby hunters preferentially kill the strongest, most experienced individuals – precisely those that are crucial for the stability of social structures and genetic resilience.
Fair-chase ethics – the hunting-ethics code system – contradicts the animal welfare act on central points.
A court in Bellinzona has confirmed that hunting clubs promote practically everything that is cruel, unnecessary and heartless.
After hobby hunting, foxes are mostly disposed of in the rubbish – not eaten. They are hunted in order to eliminate competition for huntable game.
Over 90 per cent of a fox's diet does not consist of hares, and they practically never prey on healthy hares. The hunting justification of «hare protection» is factually false.
In harsh winters, hobby hunters lure starving animals with food – only to then shoot them. This is hard to reconcile with «conservation and care».
Earth hunting sends dogs that have been made aggressive into fox and badger dens – from an animal welfare perspective one of the cruellest hunting methods.
Trap hunting can leave wild animals waiting in cage traps for days until the hobby hunter kills them.
Underage schoolchildren are handed firearms by hobby hunters – under the label «hunting training».
Hobby hunters travel abroad for trophy hunts to countries without comparable animal and species protection standards.
Campaigns such as «fawn rescue» serve as alibi nature conservation – immediately afterwards the same fawns are shot in the autumn.
Grazing animals such as roe deer and red deer were originally mainly active by day in fields and meadows. Hobby hunting pushes them into woodlands and nocturnal activity – with consequences for browsing damage and road safety.
The wolf preys on sick and weak animals with far greater precision than any hobby hunter – thereby stabilising populations sustainably.
Only around 0.3 per cent of the Swiss population are hobby hunters. 99.7 per cent have no interest in killing wild animals.
Protected species on the Red List – lynx, wolf, brown hare, grey partridge – are repeatedly shot illegally by hobby hunters.
Illegal and unmarked high seats in woodlands sometimes pose a real safety risk to children and hikers.
For decades, hobby hunters have politically blocked up-to-date animal welfare improvements and obstructed serious animal and species protection.
Hunting weapons in Switzerland are involved in suicides, threats and acts of violence – without a temperament test, without an alcohol ban, without uniform minimum psychological requirements.
The hunter's yarn – the mythologising language of hunting culture – serves to disguise the realities of killing through romanticising terms.
Hobby hunting is by far the most expensive way of not solving the wildlife population problem.
Hobby hunters (apart from vivisection) inflict the most torment and abuse on animals, including through the manner of killing.

Alternatives: what is possible instead

Natural regulation is no wishful thinking. Wildlife populations regulate themselves through food availability, climate, disease, territoriality and social structures – if we let them. The canton of Geneva has been the empirical proof for 50 years that this regulation works without militia hunting. What complements and improves it is the consistent promotion of predators: the wolf takes sick and weak animals with a precision no hobby hunter can match. The lynx regulates roe deer populations spatially and in a socially compatible way. The wildcat and the fox control rodent and small-animal populations without human intervention.

Game warden structures modelled on Geneva replace the armed militia with state-employed specialists who act according to clear ecological criteria, transparently, in accordance with animal welfare and without trophy logic. Biotope management, habitat networking, wildlife corridors, amphibian protection, renaturation: these are forms of nature conservation that work without weapons – and that are measurable, verifiable and effective in the long term. Where targeted interventions are necessary – for animal welfare reasons, at accident hotspots, where damage pressure is proven –, professional personnel carry out this task more efficiently, more safely and more transparently than a decentralised militia without uniform standards, temperament tests and alcohol bans.

More on this: Alternatives to hunting: what really helps without killing animals and Wildlife corridors and habitat networking and Initiative calls for «game wardens instead of hunters»

What would have to change

Legal equality for wild animals under animal welfare law: What counts as cruelty to animals in the home must not be a cultural asset in the forest. Animal welfare law must be applied to wild animals without exception: minimum killing standards, a mandatory follow-up search with measurable quotas and criminal consequences for botched kills.
Immediate ban on the cruellest hunting methods: Earth hunting, trap hunting with live traps without daily checks and driven hunts on pregnant animals or animals leading young are incompatible with even a minimal understanding of animal welfare and must be banned under federal law. Template motion: Ban on earth hunting
Ban on lead-containing hunting ammunition: Lead in game meat endangers consumers, predators and the environment. Lead-free ammunition is available. Austria and several German federal states have already taken this step. Template motion: Ban on lead ammunition
Mandatory psychological aptitude test and an alcohol ban during hunting: Anyone operating with live firearms in public forests must meet minimum psychological requirements. An alcohol ban during hunting is the bare minimum that every other armed profession already has in place. Template motion: Psychological aptitude test for hobby hunters
Consistent expansion of protected areas and national parks: Switzerland must increase its share of protected areas from around 10 to at least 30 per cent. Hobby hunting lobby resistance to national parks and the designation of protected areas must no longer be a politically binding veto.
Gradual transfer of militia hunting into professional game warden structures: Following the Geneva model, with cantonal pilot projects, transparent cost calculation and scientific evaluation. Template motion: Game wardens instead of hobby hunters

Line of argument

«Without hobby hunting, wildlife populations would grow uncontrollably.» Wildlife populations regulate themselves through food availability, habitat capacity, climate and social mechanisms. Hunting pressure triggers compensatory reproduction – more kills produce more young animals. Canton of Geneva: no militia hunting since 1974, stable to growing wildlife populations, more biodiversity. The simplest refutation of the argument is an address: Geneva.

«Hobby hunters carry out conservation work.» Conservation is measurable: managed areas, concrete measures, verifiable effects, time frame. The hunting system in its current form – particularly licence hunting, in which 65 per cent of hobby hunters are active – contains no institutional basis for lasting habitat protection. What is done is selective, neither monitored nor evaluated. Anyone who wants to protect nature does not need a hunting licence.

«Game meat is healthier than supermarket meat.» The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) explicitly advises vulnerable groups to avoid game. Lead residues are detectable in the majority of the game meat sausage products examined. Stress hormones in the meat of hunted animals are measurably higher than in animals that died calmly. Game meat is not an organic food. It is the end product of a violent dying process, often contaminated with lead and stress hormones.

«Hunting is a cultural asset and part of Swiss tradition.» Cultural heritage is not a legally protected category when it causes animal suffering, is rejected by the majority of the population and is ecologically counterproductive. Dog fights, bear-baiting and other historical practices were traditions too. Society abolished them — on the basis of changing values, the development of empathy and knowledge. The same standard applies to hobby hunting.

«Hobby hunters contribute to road safety by reducing wildlife populations.» The canton of Geneva empirically refutes this argument: the number of wildlife accidents there is no higher than in hunted cantons. Drive hunts and driven hunts actively flush out wild animals and causally increase wildlife accidents. Effective measures are wildlife bridges, wildlife warning systems, speed reductions and habitat connectivity — not killing.

«Hobby hunters finance themselves — they cost society nothing.» This calculation ignores external costs: wildlife damage compensation, hunting accident insurance benefits, state control costs, biodiversity losses caused by protected areas blocked by the lobby, costs from browsing pressure as a result of wildlife concentration caused by hunting pressure. An honest overall accounting is still outstanding — and the hunting lobby has no interest in seeing it done.

Quick links

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Our aspiration

Hobby hunting is ethically indefensible, ecologically counterproductive, dangerous to health, rejected by the majority of society, and politically shielded by lobby interests. None of these arguments stands alone. Together, they paint a clear picture: hobby hunting in its current form has no future in an enlightened, science-oriented society. What replaces it already exists and has been proven: professional wildlife warden structures, consistent habitat protection, the promotion of predators, and the serious recognition of the fact that wild animals are not harvest products.

IG Wild beim Wild documents this reality – with figures, studies, case reports and political analyses. We do this because 120,000 wild animals a year in Switzerland have no voice. And because the 99.7 per cent of the population who have no interest in killing wild animals are entitled to have their stance represented politically. This dossier is continuously updated whenever new studies, figures or political developments require it.

More on the subject of hobby hunting: in our dossier on hunting we bring together fact checks, analyses and background reports.