Stop the fox hunt – write to the Cantonal Council of Basel-Landschaft
The government council of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft has responded twice to Pascal Wolf's fox hunting petition, contradicting itself in the process. In its first statement of 16 June 2026, signed by government council president Dr Anton Lauber, it called the «regulation of huntable species» an important wildlife management measure. In its second response of 11 August 2026, signed by government council president Thomi Jourdan, it declared that fox hunting was «not practised with the aim of area-wide population regulation» and that the findings from Zug were «already being taken into account». Neither letter contains a single scientific source reference.
The contradiction is obvious: anyone who first declares regulation to be an important measure and then, two months later, disputes it as an aim as soon as scientific evidence is available cannot claim that current practice has long since taken this evidence into account. The hunting directive in force, dated 18 March 2026, prescribes unchanged for the fox a regular hunting season from 16 June to the end of February. In 2024, 676 red foxes were killed in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft.
You can do something, no matter which canton you live in. Contact your cantonal councillor or your national councillor directly. This is legal, effective and takes only a little time.
Important: do not rely on email alone. We have received feedback from several cantons that messages about hobby hunting of foxes sometimes come back as undeliverable. Whether this is due to incorrect addresses or a deliberate filter cannot be determined from the outside. It is therefore better to use several channels: write a letter, phone, or seek a personal conversation. You can also contact the parties and parliamentary groups directly – often a message to the party or group secretariat is more effective than to individual council members. A phone call or a letter cannot be filtered out as easily as an email and often leaves a greater impression.
Template letter – copy this text into your email program
Subject: Fox hunting Basel-Landschaft – please take action
Dear Ms [Name] / Dear Mr [Name]
As a citizen, I am contacting you directly because the practice of fox hunting in our canton concerns me.
The cantonal government responded twice to the fox hunting petition, and in doing so contradicted itself. In its first reply of 16 June 2026, it described the regulation of huntable species as an important wildlife management measure. In its second reply of 11 August 2026, it stated that fox hunting does not serve area-wide population regulation and that the scientific findings from the Zug report had already been taken into account. Taken together, the two statements do not amount to a coherent position.
Only what the canton is aware of can be taken into account. The underlying technical report by the SWILD office dates from May 2026, was prepared for the canton of Zug and, according to the cantonal government's account, only reached Liestal through delivery by the petitioner. In the first reply of June it is not mentioned at all. The applicable directive on the exercise of hunting in the 2026/27 hunting year dates from 18 March 2026 and stipulates, unchanged, a regular hunting season for the fox from 16 June to the end of February. In practice, there is no sign of any reorientation having been taken into account.
In 2024, 676 red foxes were killed in the canton of Basel-Landschaft. Regular hunting on this scale cannot be justified with the argument that one wishes to remain able to act in the case of individual sick or problematic animals. Such isolated cases are already separately regulated in the same directive and are permissible at any time. They provide no justification for a general hunt of several hundred healthy foxes per year.
The science is clear: more than 30 years of wildlife biology research show no sustainable regulatory effect from fox hunting. Compensation effects through higher reproduction and immigration quickly offset any kills. In the case of the fox tapeworm, hunting is even counterproductive. The canton of Geneva has managed without hobby hunting since 1974, Luxembourg since the fox hunting ban of 2015, without the authorities having become unable to act in genuine problem cases.
I ask you to critically scrutinise the cantonal government's reply and to advocate in the cantonal parliament for a genuine, scientifically sound review of fox hunting. No federal law compels the canton to hunt foxes. The canton of Zug has shown that this scope for action can be used.
Kind regards
[Your name]
[Your place of residence]
What was decided in the canton of Basel-Landschaft
On 16 June 2026, the cantonal government responded across four pages – without citing a single study. It names five functions of fox hunting (disease control, dealing with habituated animals, releasing sick animals from suffering, epidemiological observation, capacity to act in the event of an incident), but provides no scientific evidence. Not one of these functions was backed by a cited study.
Particularly revealing: the cantonal government itself refers to Geneva («including the state hunt (Geneva), interventions in wildlife populations remain part of wildlife management») – without mentioning that Geneva abolished hobby hunting in 1974 and has since managed with minimal interventions.
What the science says
Population regulation: Compensation mechanisms – higher fertility, better survival rates, immigration – offset losses. Even killing three-quarters of a population is made up again the following year.
Rabies: Intensive hunting could not stop the rabies epidemic of the 1970s. Only the vaccination campaign from 1978 onwards had an effect. Lethal methods can even intensify epidemics, because hunted animals become more mobile.
Fox tapeworm: In a French study from the Nancy region (Comte et al. 2017), prevalence rose from 44 to 55 per cent despite high hunting pressure – because young foxes filling the gaps carry a higher worm burden.
Geneva: Without hobby hunting since 1974, no population explosion, no worse disease situation. Luxembourg: Since the hunting ban in 2015, the fox tapeworm rate has fallen from around 40 to below 10 per cent.
Complete overview of studies: Studies: The impact of hobby hunting on wild animals
Why it is worth writing
The cantonal government evades the issue, but the cantonal parliament can put the question on the political agenda. That is exactly what your letter aims for. The more members of the cantonal parliament the one unanswered question reaches, the harder it becomes to ignore: what scientifically proven purpose continues to justify, in the canton of Basel-Landschaft, the regular hunting of several hundred foxes each year, when population regulation does not hold up scientifically as a justification and specific problem animals can also be removed in a targeted manner?
The Zug SWILD report
The canton of Zug is the only Swiss canton to date to have responded to Pascal Wolf's fox hunting petition with a genuine scientific study. In autumn 2025, the Department of the Interior commissioned an expert report from SWILD – Urban Ecology, Wildlife Research, Communication. The second version was published in May 2026 and presented to the hunting commission on 16 June 2026.
The result is unambiguous: the fox hunting currently practised cannot regulate populations sustainably, does not improve disease control and is inferior to non-lethal methods when it comes to protecting livestock. Experience from Geneva (since 1974) and Luxembourg (since 2015) confirms that wildlife management works without hobby hunting of the red fox.
The full study is publicly accessible: Scientific foundations on fox hunting
Where to find the contact details
You can find the email addresses of all 90 members of the cantonal parliament on the official list of members at baselland.ch. Das E-Mail-Muster lautet einheitlich vorname.nachname@lr-bl.ch. Bitte vor dem Versand die konkrete Adresse auf der offiziellen Liste verifizieren.
What has happened so far in the canton of Basel-Landschaft
📌 Basel-Landschaft backpedals: first regulation, now «no objective»
The second reply of 11 August 2026 contradicts the first. «Already taken into account» holds up neither to the timeline nor to the applicable hunting directive.
📌 Canton of Basel-Landschaft responds to fox hunting petition – without a single scientific source
Four pages of administrative jargon, not a single reference to a study. An analysis.
📌 Public stultification in the canton of Baselland
While the evidence is ignored, the canton celebrates 35 new hobby hunters.
🧠 The psychology of hobby hunting in the canton of Basel-Landschaft
What it says about an administration when it ignores evidence while celebrating new recruits.
📌 After Bern and Lucerne: Basel questions fox hunting
In the Basel Grand Council, a member is calling for a scientific review. In 2024, 679 foxes were killed in the two Basel cantons.