Fox den filled in, conservationists outraged
An alleged act of environmental vandalism near Pfaffenhofen has caused outrage among conservation circles.
According to a media report, wildlife photographer Rainer Schaaf had been observing a fox den in a woodland area near Pfaffenhofen for several weeks.
Criminal complaint for animal cruelty
A vixen was raising her six cubs there. In mid-May, he discovered that someone had filled in the entrance to the fox's den. PETA filed a criminal complaint with the Ingolstadt public prosecutor's office against persons unknown on suspicion of violating the Animal Welfare Act and the Federal Hunting Act.
It cannot be ruled out that someone from the recreational hunting community filled in the den. Foxes are particularly despised in these circles as “prey competitors.”
Dr. Edmund Haferbeck, Head of Legal and Scientific Affairs at PETA
Fox hunting is unnecessary and counterproductive
In Bavaria alone, over 100,000 foxes were killed in the 2019/20 hunting year. Yet foxes are an important link in the natural cycle. PETA is calling for a nationwide ban on fox hunting. There is no reason to hunt these animals, either from a wildlife biology or a public health perspective.
The connection between violent acts against humans and animals
Aggression researcher Dr. Christoph Paulus from Saarland University commented: “An estimated 80 to 90 percent of all extreme violent offenders have previously abused animals.»
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
