Fireworks hit wild animals: double stress from bangs and hobby hunting

Switzerland is voting.

On 29 November 2026 or 28 February 2027, the public is expected to decide on the so-called fireworks initiative, which aims to significantly restrict particularly loud and disturbing fireworks for private use.

The initiative committee and the sponsoring association have decided to put the initiative to the public vote. The Swiss Animal Protection STS is part of the sponsorship and will actively campaign.

For wild animals this is an overdue piece of news.

What the initiative wants

At the heart of the initiative are not fireworks as such, but the particularly loud and disturbing fireworks for private use. Quieter alternatives, as well as organised public firework displays, should remain possible. Parliament had discussed a counter-proposal which, however, would have addressed only a small part of the problem – and failed in the final vote. Now the decision lies with the people.

Fireworks as a threat to wild animals

The sudden bang of a firework triggers immediate panic in wild animals. Roe deer, foxes, birds and many other animals flee blindly, abandon their traditional refuges, become separated from their young or crash into obstacles in the darkness. The consequences range from acute stress and exhaustion to injury and death. Particularly affected are overwintering birds around New Year's Eve, as well as nesting birds and young animals around the national holiday on 1 August.

This is not a marginal phenomenon. It is an annually recurring, widespread assault of stress on Switzerland's wildlife.

Double stress: hobby hunting and fireworks

What has so far barely featured in the public debate: wild animals in Switzerland do not live in peace. All year round they are subjected to the pressure of persecution by hobby hunting exposed – gunshots, hunting dogs, driven hunts, traps. This permanent threat scenario keeps wild animals in a state of chronic stress that weakens their immune function and shortens their life expectancy.

Loud private fireworks therefore do not strike recovered, undisturbed animals. They strike individuals who are already under permanent pressure from hobby hunting. The additive effect is devastating. Anyone who genuinely wants to help the animals must keep both sources of stress in mind: hobby hunting as a structural problem and fireworks as a seasonal escalation.

Wild animals need more

The fireworks initiative is a sensible, overdue step. That private individuals are allowed to bombard entire landscapes with particularly loud firecrackers without any regulation cannot be justified scientifically. There are quieter alternatives, there are organised public events, and there is no valid reason why the right to private noise should outweigh the well-being of millions of animals.

What the initiative does not achieve, however: it changes nothing about the fundamental situation of wild animals in Switzerland. The chronic stress caused by hobby hunting remains. The initiative is a plaster – not a cure. Wild animals need hunting-free refuges, not merely a break from the banging on New Year's Eve or the national holiday.

Nevertheless: yes to the fireworks initiative. Because every bit of relief counts. Because wild animals have no lobby. And because a society that takes animals seriously does not need what is set off in private gardens.