Germany: Recreational hunter lets wildcat perish in box trap – reported to authorities
On 31 July 2018, a dead wildcat was discovered in Bavaria in a so-called “box trap”. Biologists working in the region to protect this strictly protected and rare species noticed that the trap had snapped shut around midday on one of the hottest days of that summer. In the low enclosure, covered with a black pond liner,
On 31 July 2018, a dead wildcat was discovered in Bavaria in a so-called «box trap». Biologists working in the region to protect this strictly protected and rare species noticed that the trap had snapped shut around midday on one of the hottest days of that summer. In the low enclosure, covered with a black pond liner, the animal must have suffered an agonising death from heat.
An agonising death from heat inside the trap
The cat’s snout was covered in earth, and the wooden side panels of the trap bore clear scratch marks. The police quickly identified the responsible recreational hunter, who claimed to have checked the trap at dawn, yet nevertheless left the trap “set to catch”, thereby accepting the risk that an animal could be caught in the trap during the course of the day.
For this reason, «Wildes Bayern e.V.», together with the local «Tierschutzinitiative Hassberge e.V.» and the «Landesverband Bayern des Deutschen Tierschutzbundes», filed a criminal complaint with the public prosecutor’s office in Bamberg. Trap hunting is strictly regulated in Bavaria. Anyone using a so-called «live trap» such as the box trap in question must ensure that the captured animal does not come to harm.
Criminal complaint against the recreational hunter
"In our view, the recreational hunter acted with direct intent," said Dr. Christine Miller from the association «Wildes Bayern», who led the filing of the complaint. "Anyone who sets a trap in these temperatures and knows that they will not be checking the trap in the coming hours accepts the risk that an animal will be caught in it and must endure hours in that narrow prison. The trap was in full sunlight, with no shade — no animal can survive that."
She adds: "Furthermore, the female wildcats are now caring intensively for their young. And the killing of mother animals that are still engaged in rearing their offspring is also a criminal offence that the recreational hunter knowingly accepted." Animal and nature conservation advocates are now hoping that the recreational hunter will be held accountable as quickly as possible. More on crime and recreational hunting and on the animal welfare problem.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
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.
