Golden Jackal Conquers Hobby-Hunter-Free Canton of Geneva

A golden jackal was identified in December 2018 in the forests of Jussy in the canton of Geneva using a wildlife camera.

Images examined by experts have officially confirmed this animal, which has been spotted again in Switzerland since 2011.

A new resident in the canton of Geneva

The species is currently undergoing its natural expansion towards Western Europe. The golden jackal resembles a medium-sized dog with a bushy coat and is completely harmless to humans. Its diet and way of life bring it closer to the fox, and like the fox, it can live near inhabited areas while remaining largely unnoticed.

This sighting is one of the westernmost of its kind, as golden jackals currently occupy central and southeastern Europe. For the hobby-hunter-free canton of Geneva, this is a unique occurrence. Unlike in other cantons in Switzerland, where protected golden jackals are repeatedly shot by hobby hunters, this danger does not exist in Geneva. The natural areas of the canton, which are diverse and rich in food resources thanks to dynamic management, fulfil all the conditions to welcome this newcomer to the local fauna.

Hobby hunters shoot protected golden jackals

On 13 July 2017, an ornithologist photographed a golden jackal in the Linthgebiet area of canton St. Gallen. In 2016, a golden jackal was accidentally shot in central Switzerland. In 2015, a hobby hunter accidentally shot another golden jackal in canton Graubünden. The animal welfare problem of recreational hunting is particularly evident here.

The animal, with large dark eyes and ears buried in thick winter fur, approaches an automatic camera that fascinates it greatly. Curiously, it sniffs at it carefully and then continues calmly on its way. This is the unexpected sequence discovered by conservationists while analysing data from wildlife monitoring. It is the first video ever showing a golden jackal on Swiss territory!

Natural expansion over decades

In reality, it comes as no complete surprise: this little-known species has been recorded in Switzerland for nearly a decade. The European golden jackal has been present on our continent for thousands of years, but has long been confined to a few coastal areas of southeastern Europe, where it has been subject to persecution by hobby hunters. In the second half of the 20th century, the golden jackal benefited from protective measures, setting in motion a remarkable expansion toward new favorable territories. By the 1980s, it had established a foothold in the Alpine regions of Italy and Austria, and the observations recorded in 2011 in the Swiss Plateau most likely relate to animals from these neighboring populations. The video captured near Jussy fits perfectly within the context of this natural range expansion. Golden jackals are protected in Switzerland as in neighboring countries, and their gradual arrival gives no cause to expect any adverse effects.

The video recorded in the forests of Jussy corroborates several sightings of a golden jackal in the Chablais Savoyard region of France since autumn 2017. It could be the same animal exploring this area across the border. If this hypothesis were confirmed, this series of observations spanning over a year would suggest that the golden jackal is doing far more than paying fleeting visits to the Lake Geneva region.

At this point, the sighting in the forests of Jussy remains unique for Geneva. The natural spaces of Geneva meet all the conditions needed to welcome this newcomer, which can take advantage of the important work currently under way to revitalize biological corridors, as Mr. Gottlieb Dandliker, the local wildlife warden, writes in a press release For more articles, see the category Wildlife.