Graubünden: Yes to the abolition of the special hunt demanded

In the canton of Graubünden, the animal welfare-violating hunting system is under scrutiny.

A popular initiative submitted with a record number of over 10’000 signatures seeks to abolish the special hunt on 19 May 2019.

The special hunt takes place at the end of November and beginning of December, when the culling quotas set by the Office for Hunting and Fisheries have not been met during the 21-day main hunt in September — the most disreputable hunting event (around 1’000 fines and reports filed against hobby hunters every year) in Switzerland. The culling quotas are intended to regulate wildlife populations so that forests can regenerate.

However, for decades — not only in Graubünden — populations have not truly been regulated but decimated, and the birth rate has been stimulated by the unnatural, manipulative hunting pressure exerted by hobby hunters. A consequence of current methods is that roe deer and red deer, for example, become even more skittish and shift their daily activity entirely into the night. This leads, among other things, to numerous traffic accidents and browsing damage in forests.

The Graubünden hunting system has not functioned satisfactorily in its current form for decades — otherwise red deer populations would hardly have increased by 5’000 to reach 16’500 animals. Ironically, the supporters of the special hunt are the very ones who annually put forward vague arguments about forest regeneration, wildlife browsing, adapting populations to their habitat, an unknown number of migratory deer, and so on. Foresters, however, cause far more damage in forests than wildlife — which serves as a scapegoat. Moreover, in many hunting circles, the predators wolf and lynx are maligned and poached, even though they demonstrably address these problems in a sustainable and effective manner.

Year after year, the public is somehow fed a fabricated story. Hobby hunters pretend to be something they are not.

IG Wild beim Wild

What is at stake in terms of content can be illustrated by last year's results from the main hunting season. The culling plan called for a total of 5,430 deer to be shot in September. In reality, 3,404 animals were killed. Around 2,000 deer therefore had to be taken during the special hunt in the months of November and December.

A special hunt is, as the name suggests, a corrective measure. When a corrective measure becomes the norm, something is wrong with the science, wildlife biology, planning, and execution — and this has notoriously been the case in Graubünden for 30 years.

The special hunt operates under relaxed regulations aimed at reducing red deer and sometimes also roe deer populations. Practically everything that is illegal during the main hunting season is actively encouraged during the special hunt. Pregnant and nursing hinds, as well as roe does and their young — entire social structures — are often shot down without mercy, respect, or hunting ethics, frequently in deep snow, in what amounts to a blood frenzy. When pregnant hinds are killed, the unborn young (fetuses) suffocate inside the womb. The initiators, who describe themselves as hobby hunters and animal lovers, therefore speak of scenes that are morally, ethically, and in terms of hunting practice, utterly reprehensible. The special hunt is proof that hunting ethics are nothing but a mirage.

Controversial for decades

The special hunt is also controversial because it falls during a period when wildlife has already entered its winter rest. Critics also view it as a hunt conducted purely for meat procurement and as a welcome source of revenue for the canton.

With the special hunt, hobby hunters place their image squarely alongside that of animal abusers.The special hunt is simply criminal. Our legal system has simply not yet advanced to the point of recognizing that in criminal law.

It is known today that in Graubünden and elsewhere, the primary model is that of a travel agency about organizing attractive hunts planned by the Office for Hunting and Fisheries. The authorities are increasingly degrading humans into bestial predators and wildlife into livestock and breeding animals. The number of violations of hunting legislation and the numerous reports filed with district offices speak a clear language. Hunting fever has long since exceeded healthy limits. Wild hordes of trigger-happy hobby hunters storming the mountains for a trophy or meat, which according to the WHO may officially fall into the same category as carcinogenic substances such as plutonium, asbestos, or arsenic.

Hunting is always a form of war against living beings, in which the negative traits of human nature come to the surface.

IG Wild beim Wild

The popular initiative to abolish the special hunt essentially demands that culling quotas be met during the main hunting season in September and by the end of October at the latest. To this end, the hunting season would be extended by four days to 25 days. Also part of the concept is increased hunting in wildlife protection areas. According to the study “Red Deer in the Rätikon” (2015), the vast majority of deer return in October. There are also those that never leave the canton. The claim that deer in the Rätikon only return from November onwards is not accurate.

Only one vote in parliament   

The government and parliament stand unanimously behind the shabby hunting concept that has been enshrined in hunting law since 1989. The 120-member Grand Council recommends rejecting the popular initiative by 96 votes to 1. However, important information had been withheld from parliament during the debate.

State Councillor and head of the department for hunting and fisheries, Mario Cavigelli (CVP), had not disclosed that the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in Bern had determined that the initiative didNOT violate higher-level law and that alternatives to the status quo did indeed exist. For this reason, IG Wild beim Wild filed a criminal complaint against Mario Cavigelli.

As a result of the lies told by State Councillor Mario Cavigelli, the initiators were forced to take the costly route via Lausanne to the Federal Supreme Court, just to ensure that a vote on the initiative could take place at all in May.Initiator Christian Mathis is now taking the canton of Graubünden to court. The former SVP Grand Councillor is demanding around CHF 113’000 from the canton. However, the canton refuses to pay. The matter will likely now be decided by the administrative court.

Update 20.5.2019

After the vote comes the next vote in Graubünden. The next initiative by Wildtierschutz Schweiz against the special hunt and more is awaiting only legal clearance.