Glarus: Hobby Hunters Force Government to Back Down

The Glarus cantonal government has reversed the decisions made two years ago on new wildlife sanctuaries and the opening of protected hunting reserves to hobby hunting. The reason was the determined resistance of the recreational hunting community.

At the beginning of 2014, the Glarus cantonal government decided to designate six to eight new wildlife sanctuaries starting from the 2016 hunting season. The aim was, among other things, to ensure the distribution of red deer across the canton and to create new rutting grounds. As compensation for the hunting restrictions, hobby hunting in the federal hunting reserves was partially opened up to reduce red deer numbers.

Resistance from Recreational Hunters

However, the government had failed to account for the recreational hunting community when making its decision: hobby hunters had firmly opposed additional wildlife sanctuaries during the consultation process and threatened legal action if the government were to put its plans into practice.

Now the government has reversed course. The executive announced on Tuesday that, against the backdrop of only lukewarm support for the concept from the municipalities and in view of the strong resistance from recreational hunters, the introduction of the planned wildlife sanctuaries would be shelved for the time being — “even though the validity of the wildlife sanctuaries had been confirmed by expert opinion,” the government emphasised.

On the other hand, no partial opening of the federal hunting reserves is planned for this year’s hobby hunting season. Experience over the past two years had shown that the expected hunting success had not materialised. Only a small number of red deer had been shot in the protected areas.