Beaver Switzerland: Reintroduced and released for culling

The European beaver had been completely exterminated in Switzerland by the early 19th century. Its fur, its meat and its castoreum, a glandular secretion regarded as a miracle cure, made it the victim of centuries of persecution. The Church declared beaver meat to be "fish" because of the animal's fish-like tail, and permitted its consumption during Lent. In 1685, a beaver cookbook containing 200 recipes was published (SWI swissinfo.ch, 2024). Between 1956 and 1977, dedicated private individuals released a total of 141 beavers at 30 sites in Switzerland. In 2022, the national population survey counted 4,914 beavers in 1,382 territories (info fauna, Biberbestandeserhebung 2022). The species has recovered so well that it was removed from the Red List and classified as "least concern" (LC). The beaver is one of the greatest success stories of Swiss nature conservation. Since 1 February 2025, cantons can have individual beavers shot that cause "considerable damage" (Art. 9d JSV). No prior consultation of the Confederation is required for these kills. Pro Natura, WWF and BirdLife Switzerland consider the new rule unnecessary, too vaguely worded and possibly unlawful. BirdLife managing director Raffael Ayé warns: "This opens the door to arbitrary shooting" (SRF, 2025).

Profile

The European beaver (Castor fiber) is the largest native rodent in Switzerland. It reaches a weight of 20 to 25 kilograms and a body length of up to one metre, plus the flat, scaly tail (the 'paddle') of about 30 centimetres in length. It is thus heavier than a roe deer. Its fur is dense and water-repellent, brown to dark brown. The powerful orange incisors grow continuously throughout its life and enable it to fell tree trunks up to one metre in diameter. The beaver lives monogamously in family groups of four to six animals (parents and the young of the last two years). It is nocturnal, strictly vegetarian (bark, branches, aquatic plants, herbs) and territorial. Life expectancy in the wild is 10 to 15 years. After a gestation period of around 105 days, the female gives birth to one to four young. The young leave the parental territory at the age of two and look for a territory of their own.

Ecosystem engineer: for 15 million years

Apart from humans, the beaver is the only organism that actively reshapes its environment on a large scale. It fells trees, builds dams, impounds streams, creates ponds and constructs lodges. The European beaver has been exercising these landscape-shaping abilities for 15 million years (NaturZYT). Europe's waterscapes have been formed by millions of years of beaver activity. The floodplains, wetlands and dynamic river landscapes that we regard as 'nature' are to a considerable extent the work of the beaver. Its extermination did not merely remove one species, but interrupted an ecological process that has shaped Europe's waters since the Miocene.

History: extermination and return

The extermination

The beaver was once widespread throughout Switzerland. Three factors led to its complete extermination by the early 19th century: the valuable, dense fur, from which felt hats were made; the castoreum (Castoreum), a glandular secretion marketed as a remedy for all manner of ailments; and the meat, which the Church classed as 'fish' because of the fish-like tail, thereby permitting its consumption on fast days (SWI swissinfo.ch, 2024). Across Europe, only around 1,200 beavers survived in a few isolated remnant populations (info fauna, Biber in der Schweiz).

The reintroduction

In 1956, the Geneva naturalist Maurice Blanchet, together with a group of conservationists, released the first beavers back into the wild on the Versoix in the canton of Geneva. By 1977, further releases followed at 30 sites across Switzerland, involving a total of 141 animals from various remnant European populations. The reintroduction was not coordinated by the Confederation but was the work of committed private individuals such as Maurice Blanchet (Geneva), Karl Rüedi (Aargau) and Anton Trösch (Thurgau) (info fauna, Biber in der Schweiz). The beaver has been protected under federal law since 1962 (JSG, SR 922.0).

Population development: a success story

Recovery was slow: in 1978 the first national population survey counted only a few hundred animals. By 1993 there were around 350. In 2008 the population was estimated at 1,600 beavers. The most recent survey in 2022 recorded 4,914 beavers in 1,382 territories (info fauna, Biberbestandeserhebung 2022). The population is growing in a logistic pattern: slowly at first, then exponentially, and in some long-settled areas already showing signs of saturation. The beaver's status on the Red List has been downgraded accordingly: 'critically endangered' (CR) in 1994, 'vulnerable' (VU) in 2008, and 'least concern' (LC) since 2022 (info fauna; WWF Basel).

This success story is the result of a consistent hunting ban that has held for over 60 years. It is proof that protection works and that species which demand space from humans are capable of coexisting with us. It is precisely this success story that is now being called into question by the new kill regulation.

More on this: Dossier: Hunting and Biodiversity

The new kill regulation: protection with a back door

What has applied since 1 February 2025

On 13 December 2024, the Federal Council brought the revised hunting act into force, together with the amended hunting ordinance (JSV), as of 1 February 2025 (Federal Council, press release, 2024). The hunting ordinance now regulates the killing of individual beavers; previously, the FOEN decided on this (SRF, 2016). The rule is as follows: the canton may grant a kill permit for individual beavers if they cause "considerable damage" or endanger people and the damage or danger cannot be prevented by reasonable measures (Art. 9d para. 1 JSV). Considerable damage includes, among other things, the undermining of structures and facilities in the public interest, of riverbanks used for flood protection and of agricultural access roads, flooding of settlements, and the backing-up of agricultural drainage systems where crop rotation areas are affected (Art. 9d para. 2 JSV). If a beaver family lives in the affected area, the beaver must be caught in a box trap before being killed, and from 16 March to 31 July lactating females may not be killed (Art. 9d para. 4 JSV). The ordinance lists as reasonable prevention measures such things as action on the beaver dam, electric or wire-mesh fences and wire sleeves for individual trees (Art. 10g JSV). The beaver formally remains a protected species. But its protection is no longer absolute.

What the nature conservation organisations criticise

Pro Natura, WWF Switzerland and BirdLife Switzerland consider the new provisions unnecessary and dangerous. Their criticism in detail:

First: No consultation of the Confederation before kills. Unlike with the wolf, no prior consultation of the Confederation is required for beaver kills. The cantons can decide on kills independently. BirdLife managing director Raffael Ayé criticises: "In doing so, the Federal Council is attempting, in a questionable way, to create the same grounds for killing the beaver as for the wolf" (BirdLife Switzerland, 2024).

Second: No clearly defined damage threshold. The ordinance lists categories of cases but sets no threshold above which damage counts as "considerable"; even the backing-up of a drainage system on arable land may suffice. There is a fear that even the slightest damage could be cited as grounds for a kill (BirdLife Switzerland, 2024).

Third: Not a single kill has been necessary so far. Although the legal option to kill beavers under certain conditions has existed for more than 30 years, according to nature conservation organisations and the beaver advisory office, not a single beaver had to be shot because of damage before the 2025 revision. Conflicts were resolved through preventive measures (SRF, 2025). However, the Federal Hunting Statistics do record special culls of beavers without stating the reason: 99 animals from 2016 to 2025, including 18 in each of 2024 and 2025. A further 488 beavers were found dead in 2025 (Federal Hunting Statistics; Swiss Hunting Statistics 2025).

Fourth: The family clause problem. Beavers live in family groups. If all members of a family are involved in a 'damage case', the entire family group is at risk of being killed. In this case, the ordinance merely requires that the beaver be caught in a box trap before being killed (Art. 9d para. 4 JSV). The rule thus endangers not only individual animals but entire family groups.

Fifth: Possible unlawfulness. Raffael Ayé considers the new rules possibly unlawful: 'You cannot simply override the hunting act with an ordinance like this' (SRF, 2025).

The political context

In 2020, Swiss voters rejected a revision of the hunting act that would have given the Federal Council the authority to place further species such as lynx and beaver on the cull list. Pro Natura commented: 'Lynx, beavers and other protected animals cannot be culled pre-emptively. We were able to prevent this with the referendum' (Pro Natura, 2023). That the beaver is now ending up on the cull list through the back door of the hunting ordinance undermines the 2020 popular vote. And the pressure continues to grow: the FDP parliamentary group in the St. Gallen cantonal parliament is demanding, with its cantonal initiative 'Regulate the beaver population effectively at regional level', an amendment to federal law so that cantons can regulate not just individual beavers but entire regional populations (Beavers in the Rhine Valley: The FDP wants to regulate, but the question of space remains unresolved).

More on this: Animal welfare problem: wild animals suffer agonising deaths because of recreational hunters

Ecological significance: the builder of biodiversity

Creating habitats

The FOEN (Federal Office for the Environment) itself documents the beaver's ecological achievements in a detailed web dossier (FOEN, 2023): in Marthalen (ZH), a single beaver family has created an ecosystem of around 5 hectares, which has since been designated a forest reserve of 10 hectares. Dragonflies, amphibians, fish and aquatic plants have returned. The FOEN describes the result as the «Amazon of Switzerland» (info fauna, Beaver Population Survey 2022). The Swiss Beaver Advisory Service documents that in 2008 there were 185 beaver dams in Switzerland; by 2022 there were already 1,316 (info fauna, 2023). Every single dam creates new wetlands, raises the groundwater level and promotes biodiversity.

The 90 Per Cent Gap

The beaver's work is all the more valuable in Switzerland because 90 per cent of floodplains have been destroyed over the past 150 years through river straightening and drainage (FOEN, 2023). Floodplains are among the most species-rich habitats in Switzerland and, at the same time, the most threatened. The beaver is the only organism capable of creating new floodplain habitats without humans having to invest millions in restoration projects. At a time when Switzerland is spending billions on revitalising its waterways, the beaver is the country's most cost-effective restorer.

Water Retention and Flood Protection

Beaver dams hold water in the landscape, slow down runoff and reduce flood peaks. In an era of increasingly heavy rainfall due to climate change, this function is growing in importance. At the same time, beaver dams raise the groundwater level and create water reservoirs that release water during dry periods. These ecosystem services can be quantified economically and far outweigh the damage caused by beavers, yet they are not factored into any cost-benefit analysis.

Water Quality

Beaver dams act as natural filters. Because water remains in beaver ponds for longer, a wide range of chemical and biological breakdown processes take place. Swiss rivers and streams are often polluted by nitrogen and phosphorus. The retention function of beaver dams helps to reduce these nutrient loads before they reach larger bodies of water (info fauna, Beavers in Switzerland).

What needs to change

Repeal of the Kill Provision in the Hunting Ordinance: The beaver kills are unnecessary, as over 30 years of practice without kills due to beaver damage show. The conflicts can be resolved with preventive measures: tree protection with wire guards, removal of dams at critical points, installation of culverts, and riverbank planting with less attractive woody species. The new regulation must be struck out without replacement at the next revision of the ordinance.
Consistent implementation of preventive measures: The revised Hunting Ordinance provides that the FOEN (BAFU) will contribute up to 30 per cent to the cantons' preventive measures such as burrow protection grids, artificial beaver lodges or siphon pipes (Art. 10h JSV), and will cover 50 per cent of the costs of beaver damage to forests, crops, buildings and facilities (Art. 10 JSV). These funds must be consistently invested in prevention and must not serve as a pretext for kills. The Confederation must ensure that kills are authorised only as an absolute last resort and that the cantons do not take the convenient route of the shotgun.
Consistently implement the Waters Protection Act's riparian zone provisions: Many conflicts with the beaver arise because agriculture and infrastructure extend right up to the water's edge. Consistent implementation of the riparian zone under the Waters Protection Act (GSchG) would defuse most conflicts. The beaver needs a strip of bank; where this is guaranteed, there are hardly any problems.
Using the beaver as a renaturation tool: The FOEN has documented the beaver's positive effects on biodiversity, water retention and water quality. These findings must be put into practice: the beaver should be deliberately integrated into renaturation projects rather than fought as a 'damage-causing animal'. In Marthalen (ZH) this has already been achieved.

Talking points

“The beaver causes considerable damage to infrastructure and agriculture.” Beavers can cause local damage: undermined embankments, flooded meadows, felled fruit trees. This damage is real, but manageable. Over 30 years of coexistence without kills due to beaver damage show that prevention works. The beaver's ecological contributions (species promotion, water retention, water purification, floodplain formation) outweigh the local damage many times over. Switzerland spends billions on watercourse renaturation; the beaver delivers the same service free of charge.

“The new regulation affects only individual cases and does not endanger the population.” The wording “significant damage” is far too vague, with no clearly defined damage threshold. The lack of consultation with the Confederation gives the cantons too much leeway. Beavers live in family groups; the shooting of a “damage beaver” can lead to an entire family being killed. Experience with wolf regulation shows that once kill options have been created, they are quickly expanded. What begins as an “isolated case” becomes routine.

“The beaver is no longer endangered, so regulation is justifiable.” The beaver is no longer endangered because it was consistently protected for 60 years. Using this success as an argument against protection is perverse logic: a species is protected until it recovers, and then shot again because it has recovered. The beaver was once wiped out in Switzerland. The lesson from this history is not that it may be hunted again as soon as there are enough of them, but that consistent protection works and must be maintained.

“The 2020 popular vote did not affect beaver protection.” In 2020 voters rejected a revision of the Hunting Act (JSG) that would have given the Federal Council the power to put beavers on the kill list. The fact that the beaver is now ending up on the kill list via the Hunting Ordinance, without the people or parliament having directly approved it, undermines the democratic decision. BirdLife considers the ordinance possibly unlawful.

“Other countries regulate their beaver populations, Switzerland must follow suit.” The situation in Switzerland is not comparable with countries such as Germany or Austria, where beaver populations are considerably larger and the waterscapes are structured differently. Switzerland has lost 90 per cent of its floodplains. The beaver is the only animal that can create new floodplains. In this situation every beaver is a gain for biodiversity, not a problem that needs to be regulated.

Quick links

Articles on Wild beim Wild:

Related dossiers

sources

info fauna / Beaver Centre: Beavers in Switzerland, distribution, history, population survey 2022 (infofauna.ch)
FOEN, Federal Hunting Statistics: special kills and fallen game, beaver 2009–2025, retrieved on 21.10.2026 (jagdstatistik.ch)
info fauna (2023): Beaver population survey 2022 in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Angst C., Auberson C., Nienhuis C. (4,914 beavers, 1,382 territories, 1,316 dams)
FOEN (2023): A versatile landscape architect: when the beaver arrives, things get colourful (web dossier, bafu.admin.ch)
FOEN: Species promotion for birds / biodiversity (bafu.admin.ch)
Federal Council (2024): Press release of 13 December 2024, revised Hunting Act enters into force on 1 February 2025 (admin.ch)
SRF (2025): Cantons will soon be allowed to shoot beavers, under certain conditions (srf.ch, 15.1.2025)
SRF (2016): Beavers can now be 'removed' as a precaution (srf.ch, 6.9.2016)
BirdLife Switzerland (2024): Federal Council adopts problematic hunting ordinance (birdlife.ch, 13.12.2024)
Pro Natura (2023): New hunting ordinance, Pro Natura is watching closely (pronatura.ch)
Gruppe Wolf Schweiz: Hunting act, beaver and lynx (gruppe-wolf.ch)
SWI swissinfo.ch (2024): The beaver, the story of a reconquest (swissinfo.ch)
NaturZYT: The beaver is back in Switzerland with its lodges (naturzyt.ch)
WWF Central Switzerland: Beaver, population 2022 (wwf-zentral.ch)
WWF Basel: Beaver, conservation status and history (wwf-bs.ch)
Capt S. (2022): Red List of Mammals (excluding bats). FOEN / info fauna (beaver: LC since 2022)
Federal Act on Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals and Birds (JSG, SR 922.0)
Hunting Ordinance (JSV, SR 922.01), Art. 9d, 10, 10g and 10h, version of 1 February 2025 (fedlex.admin.ch)
Animal Welfare Act (TSchG, SR 455)

Our Standard

The beaver is the greatest success story of Swiss species protection. From zero to almost 5,000 animals in 66 years. From 'critically endangered' to 'least concern'. From the last surviving individual to nationwide distribution. This story became possible because dedicated private individuals did not give up, because protection was consistently enforced and because Switzerland gave its largest rodent 60 years to recover.

The beaver repays us. In Marthalen, a single family has created an 'Amazonia of Switzerland'. At over 1,300 dams across the country, new wetlands are emerging, amphibians, dragonflies and fish are returning, water is being retained in the landscape and water quality is improving. Switzerland has lost 90 per cent of its floodplains. The beaver is the only one who can create new floodplains, free of charge, around the clock, and has been doing so for 15 million years.

And what does Switzerland do? It puts the beaver on the kill list by ordinance. Not because it is necessary: for over 30 years, until the revision, not a single beaver had to be shot because of damage. Not because the people wanted it: in 2020 voters rejected a revision that would have allowed exactly this. But because it is more convenient to shoot an animal than to respect the riparian zone, put a wire fence around a fruit tree or install a flow device in a dam.

The conclusion is clear: the kill regulation for the beaver must be withdrawn. Conflicts can be resolved through prevention, as more than 30 years of practice show. The beaver is not a pest. It is an ecosystem engineer, a renaturer, a master builder of biodiversity and a success story that must be protected, not shot at. This dossier is updated continuously whenever new figures, studies or political developments require it.

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