Stop fox hunting – write to the Aargau Grand Council
The canton of Aargau organises recreational hunting under the territorial hunting system: hunting grounds are leased to hunting societies. According to the cantonal Hunting Statistics 2025, Aargau recreational hunters shot 1’837 foxes in 2025; in 2024 the figure was 1’986. In addition, 2025 saw 1’220 foxes recorded as fallen game, 767 of them on the roads. Together that makes 3’057 dead foxes in a single year.
On 27 August 2025, the Lucerne lawyer Pascal Wolf had already written by email to Landammann Stephan Attiger, head of the Department of Construction, Transport and Environment (BVU). On 15 October 2026 he submitted the petition "Ban on general fox hunting": a year-round closed season for the red fox, kills only in justified individual cases, and priority for vaccination and parasite control. The answer came on 5 November 2026: (BVU reply letter): rejection.
The situation has "not changed" since the reply of 17 September 2025, Attiger writes. In the view of the cantonal government, there is "no need to change the nationwide rules on fox hunting for the canton of Aargau". The letter amounts to a good page of paraphrased legislation. It cites no study, no population estimate, no damage figure and no objective for fox hunting.
Yet a good deal has changed since September 2025: the canton of Zug had fox hunting scientifically reviewed and has not promoted it since, Basel-Stadt is considering giving it up, and in the Bern Grand Council a cross-party motion calls for fox management instead of fox hunting. And the "nationwide rules" are merely a minimum standard: under Art. 5 para. 4 of the Hunting Act, the cantons can extend closed seasons or restrict the list of huntable species. The cantonal government could therefore act. It chooses not to.
You can do something, no matter which district you live in. Contact a member of the Grand Council directly. It is legal, effective and takes very little time.
Important: do not rely on e-mail alone. We have received feedback from several cantons that messages about recreational hunting of the fox are sometimes returned as undeliverable. Use several channels, therefore: a letter, a phone call or a personal conversation. A message to a parliamentary group or party secretariat is often more effective than one to individual members.
Template letter: copy this text into your e-mail programme
Subject: Fox hunting in the canton of Aargau: request to consider a year-round closed season
Dear Ms [Name] / Dear Mr [Name]
I ask you to review fox hunting in the canton of Aargau at a political level.
On 5 November 2026, Landammann Stephan Attiger rejected the petition "Ban on general fox hunting". He stated that the situation had not changed since September 2025 and that there was no need to alter the nationwide regulations for Aargau. The reply letter cites no study, no objective of fox hunting, no population estimate and no damage figures.
According to the cantonal hunting statistics, 1’837 foxes were killed in Aargau in 2025; in addition, 1’220 foxes were recorded as found dead, most of them in road traffic. The meat of the foxes killed is not eaten, and a pelt fetches only a few francs at fur markets. The canton does not explain what measurable benefit these kills have.
The SWILD expert report commissioned by the canton of Zug (May 2026) concludes that fox hunting as currently practised, without spatial coordination, does not regulate the population sustainably, does not improve disease control and is inferior to non-lethal measures when it comes to protecting livestock. The canton of Zug has since ceased to promote fox hunting. Geneva has managed without recreational hunting since 1974, and Luxembourg without fox hunting since 2015, in both cases with no documented increase in problems.
Federal law does not oblige the canton to hunt foxes. Under Art. 5 para. 4 of the hunting act, the canton may extend the closed season. I therefore ask you to work in the Grand Council for an independent scientific review of fox hunting and for a year-round closed season for the red fox.
Kind regards
[Your name]
[Your place of residence]
What was decided in the canton of Aargau
Petition "Ban on general fox hunting", submitted on 15 October 2026 by Pascal Wolf. It calls for a year-round closed season for the red fox, kills only where there is a considerable danger to public safety or animal health, the killing of sick or injured foxes only after assessment by wildlife wardens or a veterinarian, and priority for vaccination and parasite control.
Reply of 5 November 2026, Landammann Stephan Attiger, Department of Construction, Transport and Environment: rejection. The federal hunting act covers both use and protection, and its provisions are "balanced". Under Art. 5 para. 1 JSG, foxes may be hunted outside the closed season from 1 March to 15 June, and Aargau adopts the federal requirements. The regulation of the fox is "not an arbitrary procedure" but an "important and necessary wildlife management measure" to resolve conflicts between people, agriculture, forestry and nature.
What the letter does not answer: which conflicts foxes cause in Aargau, to what extent, what aim the hunt pursues and how its success is measured. It does not mention that the canton itself would be permitted to extend the closed season. And of the "sustainable use" it cites as the aim of the act, little remains in the case of the fox: nobody eats its meat, and its pelt fetches only 8 francs at the Grisons fur market.
What Science Says
Population regulation: The red fox quickly compensates for losses through increased reproduction and immigration. Local kills do not reduce fox density at the landscape level (Baker et al. 2002; Rushton et al. 2006; Kämmerle et al. 2019).
Mange: The Aargau Hunting Protection Association justifies fox hunting with mange. There is no evidence that regular hunting contains mange; many foxes survive the disease and develop antibodies. We have set out the details in the article Fox hunting ban: hunting protection president calls vaccination 'extreme'.
Rabies and fox tapeworm: Rabies was not defeated by hunting but by vaccine baits from 1978. In the case of the fox tapeworm, intensive hunting in the Nancy area increased the proportion of infected foxes (Comte et al. 2017); in Luxembourg it fell from around 40 to under 10 per cent after the hunting ban of 2015.
Costs and damage: In France, controlling the species hunted as “pests” costs between 103 and 123 million euros a year, while the reported damage amounts to 8 to 23 million. The researchers found no connection between the number of animals killed and the level of damage (Jiguet et al. 2026, Biological Conservation).
Full overview of studies: Studies: The Impact of Recreational Hunting on Wild Animals
The Zug SWILD report
The canton of Zug is so far the only canton to have responded to the fox hunting petition with a scientific investigation. The SWILD technical report was published in May 2026 and was submitted to the hunting commission on 16 June 2026. Its findings: the fox hunting currently practised does not regulate the population sustainably, does not improve disease control, and is inferior to non-lethal methods when it comes to protecting livestock. The report also shows that such an assessment can be carried out using existing literature and the existing hunting and fallen-game statistics. Both are available in Aargau.
The full study is publicly accessible: Scientific Basis for Fox Hunting
Where to find the contact details
The Grand Council of the canton of Aargau has 140 members, elected in the eleven districts for the 2025–2028 term of office. You can find names, parliamentary groups and contact details in the official list of members at ag.ch: Members of the Grand Council. The most effective approach is a personally worded message to members from your district or your party.
What has happened in the canton of Aargau so far
📌 Fox hunting ban: hunting protection president calls vaccination 'extreme'
The petition reaches Aargau, and the president of the Aargau Hunting Protection Association calls vaccinating instead of shooting “extreme”.
📌 Hunting season in Aargau: What the recreational hunters' leaflet leaves out
Driven hunts, small game hunted without justification, and rules that do not apply equally to everyone.
📌 Criticism of the fur market held by Aargau's hunting wardens in Aarau
What happens to the pelts of the foxes that have been shot.
📌 Aargau Certifies 39 New Recreational Hunters and Politics Applauds
While the evidence is ignored, the canton celebrates its new generation of hunters at Habsburg Castle.
🧠 Psychology of Recreational Hunting in Aargau
The hunting ground as perceived property: why criticism of recreational hunting in Aargau is treated as a nuisance.
📌 Fox Switzerland: the most hunted predator without a lobby
Why around 19,000 foxes are shot every year in Aargau without any kill quota and without scientific justification.