Hunt Watch: Focus on the people who kill animals

Activists observe driven hunts

The movement, which is attracting a steady influx of supporters and enjoys broad public backing, has made it its mission no longer to leave hobby hunters alone with the animals in the forest.

From now on, activists are present in smaller or larger numbers at driven hunts and other forms of hobby hunting, observing and precisely documenting everything that hobby hunters get up to in the forest and on the fields with our wild and domestic animals.

Hunt Watch was founded in north-western Switzerland by the animal rights activist Olivier Bieli. The campaign initially focused on hunting grounds in the region. By now there are further offshoots across Switzerland, and hunts abroad — namely in France and Germany — are also accompanied by Hunt Watch.

Excerpts of the photo and film material produced during the hobby hunts are published. The aim is to show the public how hobby hunters treat nature and its inhabitants, how ruthless and brutal hobby hunting really is, and what at times massive dangers wild animals, dogs and people are exposed to during driven hunts.

Peaceful and de-escalating

Hunt Watch activists conduct themselves peacefully at all times and act in a de-escalating manner during confrontations with hobby hunters. Moreover, Hunt Watch consistently rejects any form of blockade, property damage, hate speech and other criminal acts.

During hunt accompaniments, activists always keep to the publicly accessible paths, do not move into the line of fire and in no way disrupt the hobby hunt. Nevertheless, driven hunts have already been called off several times in our presence. The hobby hunters at times react with unease, anger and even aggression to our important animal rights work and, whenever and wherever possible, attempts to torpedo it massively. This is done with extremely dubious and even illegal methods. The psychological backgrounds of these reactions are documented in detail on wildbeimwild.com.

Intimidation attempts by hobby hunters

On several occasions a hobby hunter, disguised as an author, spread misrepresentations and brazen lies about our organisation in a newspaper, deliberately seeking to damage our reputation. Activists were also wrongly accused of prohibited acts during driven hunts.

Completely pointless criminal complaints filed with the police all came to nothing, with the responsible public prosecutors issuing decisions not to proceed. Hunt Watch director Olivier Bieli, who in his professional life has worked as a police officer with the Basel-Stadt cantonal police for almost 20 years, also repeatedly comes into focus.

During a driven hunt, several tyres of his animal welfare vehicle were deliberately slashed. A hobby hunter also contacted the head of department of the cantonal police, the highest political office of the authority, with a hate letter, in which she heavily slandered Bieli and even openly demanded his dismissal. The intimidation tactic failed and triggered criminal proceedings against the hobby hunter herself.

With dubious criminal complaints, property damage, threats, pressure on the employer and the spreading of lies, the hobby hunters try to keep us away from them. In doing so, however, they not only stir up our irrepressible curiosity and our drive to strive for a world without violence, but also increasingly draw the attention of the public and the media to their own machinations in dealing with nature and its sentient creatures.

The times when hobby hunters could do as they pleased in the forest are definitively over since the founding of Hunt Watch.

Contact Hunt Watch

Further content

FAQ: The psychology of hobby hunters · Dossier: An introduction to hunting criticism · Template texts for hunting-critical initiatives · All dossiers