An end to fox hunting

To justify the merciless persecution of one of our most fascinating predators (a member of the dog family), it is simply claimed that fox hunting on the low hunt in Switzerland is necessary because fox populations would otherwise get out of hand.

Under the Animal Welfare Act (Art. 26 TSchG), there must be a “reasonable cause” for killing an animal. In the case of hobby hunting of hobby hunting of foxes and badgers, however, it is usually merely the satisfaction of a bloody hobby. Hobby hunting fails as population control.

Accordingly, every fox hunt is a clear violation of the Animal Welfare Act, because the reasonable cause is lacking. For more than 30 years there have been at least 18 wildlife-biology studies proving that fox hunting does not regulate and is also useless for combating disease. On the contrary!

We therefore call on Swiss politicians to ban the utterly senseless killing of these wonderful creatures as quickly as possible. Luxembourg and the canton of Geneva have demonstrated that there is not a single valid argument for this slaughter.

Facts instead of hunters' yarns

Even without hunting, there would not suddenly be too many foxes, hares or birds. Experience shows that nature can be left to its own devices. From a purely pragmatic point of view, the low hunt is not necessary.

Heinrich Haller, former director of the Grisons National Park and wildlife biologist

Fox populations are regulated through a complex social system. Foxes live in family groups in which only the highest-ranking vixen produces offspring. However, when humans intervene in the fox population with trap and shotgun, these family communities are destroyed. As a result, almost all vixens become ready to mate, and the number of cubs per litter rises sharply.

We have observed that fox mothers give birth to more young where the animals are hunted. While a kill can provide relief in specific spots, the vacated territories are soon reoccupied. Nature regulates this on its own.

Game warden Fabian Kern

A single fox eats an estimated 3’000 to 5’000 mice per year. If so many foxes were not killed, farmers would not need to spread so much poison on their fields against mouse plagues.

In Switzerland, however, hobby hunters shoot around 20’000 healthy foxes every year — for the rubbish bin. Fox hunting is ecologically, economically and epidemiologically pointless and must therefore be banned for the sake of humans, nature and wildlife as well as from the perspective of ethics, morality and animal welfare.

Demands

We call for the recognition of scientific studies and expert opinions that question the necessity of hunting. No dissemination of sectarian or refuted hobby hunter lies. The killing of animals as a leisure activity has no place in the 21st century and should also be prosecuted under criminal law.