«End the Fox Hunt»: Science, Cantons and What You Can Do

Each year, around 19,000 red foxes are shot in Switzerland.

The official justifications: population control, disease control, protection of ground-nesting birds. More than three decades of wildlife biology research consistently refute these arguments. IG Wild beim Wild has therefore launched the campaign «End the Fox Hunt» – with canton-specific contact lists, a scientifically grounded template letter and concrete steps for action for everyone who wants to get involved.

What the figures show

The canton of Lucerne is the only canton that systematically records the health status of killed foxes. Of 2,217 animals killed, only 39 showed any sign of disease. Over 98 per cent of the foxes shot in the canton of Lucerne were healthy – no disease outbreak that hunting could have contained.

In the case of the fox tapeworm, hunting is in fact counterproductive: a study by Comte et al. (2017) showed that intensive hunting raised prevalence from 44 to 55 per cent, because young foxes fill the gaps and carry a higher parasite load. In Luxembourg, the infection rate fell from around 40 to below 20 per cent after the fox hunting ban in 2015.

A recent study in «Biological Conservation» (Jiguet et al. 2026) examined 383,299 red foxes killed annually in France: no statistical link with damage reduction, and control costs exceed the damage eightfold. Killed in their millions – for nothing.

What the cantons have done so far

The cantons' responses to petitions on fox hunting are largely uniform: rejection without a single scientific source.

The canton of Glarus replied with three paragraphs and not a single study. The canton of Basel-Landschaft sent four pages of administrative jargon – likewise without any scientific evidence. The canton of Bern rejected a cross-party motion; in doing so, the cantonal government itself conceded that fox hunting was «effectively an end in itself».

The only exception: in 2025, the canton of Zug commissioned an independent study from SWILD. The result (May 2026): fox hunting shows no demonstrable regulatory effect, does not improve disease control and is inferior to non-lethal methods. The hunting commission subsequently decided to stop proactively promoting fox hunting.

Models that have been working for decades

The Swiss National Park has been free of hunting since 1914 – over a hundred years, without any population explosion or disease problems. The canton of Geneva has managed without hobby hunting since 1974. Luxembourg banned fox hunting nationwide in 2015, with a measurable decline in the fox tapeworm. No federal law obliges the cantons to hunt foxes.

What you can do now

For the cantons of Lucerne, Glarus, Basel-Landschaft, Zug and Bern, the campaign provides complete contact lists of the cantonal councillors as well as canton-specific background information. For all other cantons there is a universal template letter that can be copied directly into your own email program. Please send it only as a personal email – this is politically more effective than any mass mailing.