The canton of Fribourg cannot also revoke the hunting licence of a recreational hunter who has already been criminally sanctioned for using a thermal imaging camera.
Prohibited thermal imaging camera on a hobby hunt
On 14 September 2019, the man was checked during a hobby hunt following the shooting of a chamois, whereupon the game warden found a thermal imaging camera on his person — a piece of equipment prohibited under hunting legislation.
By means of a penalty order dated 8 January 2020, the offender was found guilty of violating the hunting law and sentenced to a fine of 800 francs and a suspended fine of 15 days, deferred for two years.
Cantonal court overturns hunting licence revocation
According to the cantonal court, the Directorate for Institutions, Agriculture and Forests exceeded its authority by revoking the hunting licence of the Fribourg resident whose case had already been dealt with by the criminal justice system. This is the conclusion reached by the Fribourg Cantonal Court, which has overturned the one-year licence revocation.
Added value: Ruling of 28.7.2021
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.
