Stop fox hunting – write to the Vaud Grand Council
Since 10 November 2026, fox hunting has officially been on the agenda of the Vaud Grand Council. Alberto Mocchi of the Greens, together with 15 council members from the Greens, the SP and the Green Liberals, has submitted interpellation 26_INT_157 «Renards : une régulation vraiment nécessaire ?». The cantonal government must now state, among other things, what it makes of the studies showing that regulating foxes is not necessary to prevent an increase in their numbers, and can even have the opposite of the intended effect.
The cantonal government is also already considering a petition from the jurist Pascal Wolf, who has put fox hunting under scrutiny in numerous cantons. What matters now is that Vaud council members sense that the public expects answers that engage with the current state of research.
You can do something, no matter which canton you live in. Contact the members of the Grand Council directly. It 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 recreational hunting of foxes are sometimes bounced back as undeliverable. Whether this is due to faulty addresses or a deliberate filter cannot be determined from the outside. It is therefore better to use several channels: write a letter, make a phone call or seek a personal conversation. You can also approach the parties and parliamentary groups directly; a message to the party or group secretariat is often more effective than one to individual council members.
Template letter in French: copy this text into your email programme
The best way to reach Vaud council members is in their own language. You can use the letter as it stands; just adapt the salutation, name and place of residence.
Objet : Chasse au renard, merci de suivre l’interpellation 26_INT_157
Madame la Députée, Monsieur le Député,
Je m’adresse à vous en tant que citoyenne / citoyen, car la pratique de la chasse au renard dans le canton de Vaud me préoccupe.
On 10 November 2026, Member of the Grand Council Alberto Mocchi and fifteen co-signatories submitted interpellation 26_INT_157 “Foxes: is regulation really necessary?”. Thank you for following the Council of State’s response closely and for supporting any steps that may follow from it.
The scientific basis already exists. The report commissioned by the canton of Zug from the SWILD consultancy (May 2026) concludes that fox hunting as currently practised does not regulate populations in the long term and does not improve disease control, because the losses are offset by increased reproduction and by immigration. Near Nancy, tapeworm infestation in foxes even increased where hunting was most intensive (Comte et al. 2017).
Our neighbour Geneva has done without recreational hunting since 1974, and Luxembourg banned fox hunting in 2015, without either fox populations or tapeworm infestation increasing.
Giving up routine hunting does not mean giving up all intervention: where an individual animal causes significant damage, federal law already allows targeted measures (Art. 12, para. 2, Hunting Act). What is at issue is the routine killing of healthy foxes with no demonstrated benefit.
I therefore ask you to work to ensure that the canton of Vaud draws the consequences of this knowledge and abandons routine fox hunting.
Yours faithfully
[Your name]
[Your place of residence]
What the interpellation demands
The interpellation puts five questions to the Council of State: how it assesses the population and state of health of foxes in the canton, what role it attributes to the fox in curbing mice and other small rodents, for what reasons regulatory kills have been ordered in recent years, what alternatives it uses or intends to use, and how it assesses the studies that deny any benefit of regulation. The full wording is available on the Grand Council website.
For a fair assessment: the interpellation does not demand a decision, but answers. It is deliberately worded in a restrained manner and acknowledges the work of recreational hunters and wildlife wardens. The competent body is the Department of Youth, Environment and Security (DJES) under State Councillor Vassilis Venizelos (Greens), which generally replies within three months of the matter being referred. Whether this leads to a ban on fox hunting depends on what the State Council replies and what the Grand Council makes of it. The model lies right next door: Geneva has managed without recreational hunting since 1974.
The Zug SWILD report
The canton of Zug is so far the only Swiss canton to have responded to Pascal Wolf's fox hunting petition with a scientific expert report. In autumn 2025, the Directorate 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 sustainably regulate populations, does not improve disease control and is inferior to non-lethal methods when it comes to protecting livestock. The experience from Geneva (since 1974) and Luxembourg (since 2015) confirms that wildlife management works without recreational hunting of the red fox.
The full study is publicly accessible: Scientific Basis for Fox Hunting
Where to find the contact details
The Grand Council of the canton of Vaud has 150 members. Contact details can be found on the members' profile pages on the Grand Council website at vd.ch/gc (section «Député-e-s»). Via the parliamentary groups, you can also find the members grouped by party. Letters reach the Council via the Secrétariat général du Grand Conseil, Place du Château 6, 1014 Lausanne, telephone 021 316 05 00.
What has happened in Vaud so far
📌 Vaud: 16 council members question fox hunting
Interpellation 26_INT_157 asks the State Council for answers on population, kills, alternatives and the state of the research.