Is the hunting association misleading the Bernese public?

Recreational hunting in the canton of Bern is to become less violent.

To this end, an interpellation entitled: «Non-violent alternatives to hunting in Bern» was submitted to the city council on 13 March 2025.

TeleBärn organised a debate on this topic entitled: «Wildlife regulation: through hunting or non-violent alternatives». The guests: Tobias Sennhauser, city councillor from «Tier im Fokus», recreational hunter Sabine Brechbühl, and recreational hunter Lorenz Hess, president of the Bern hunters' association.

Amateur hunter Lorenz Hess is also known in Switzerland as the “fox clubber”. This is because he beat a fox to death with a piece of wood after it had been shot by a recreational hunter, since, according to his own account, his rifle barrel was clogged with earth. A video documented the incident. “Hunting animals means respecting animals” or “A little bit always works” is his motto.

As early as 2020, during the parliamentary debate on the ill-fated hunting act, Lorenz Hess wanted the lynx to be added, alongside the beaver, grey heron and goosander, to the list of species that could be preventively regulated. These wild animals could then have been shot without having caused any damage.

What lynxes in Switzerland need is a genetic refresh from lynx populations elsewhere. The weakening of the lynx's gene pool is by far not the only factor threatening its future. Traffic accidents and poaching by recreational hunters also pose a real danger to the survival of the lynx population.

Fundamentals

It is only where wild animals are hunted, and family and social structures destroyed, that natural population control fails within the biotope.

In the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of management by Swiss recreational hunters, the proportion of threatened species is, according to the UN, nowhere else in the world as great as in Switzerland.

For decades, recreational hunters have been creating an ecological imbalance in the cultural landscape, with at times dramatic consequences (protective forest, diseases, agricultural damage, and much more).

A handful of game wardens are enough for genuine conservation, as shown by the example of Geneva or entire countries with a hunting ban. Wild animals would no longer be shooting-gallery targets for people with poor ethical standards and psychological problems.

Even without hunting, there wouldn't suddenly be too many foxes, hares or birds. Experience shows that nature can be left to its own devices. – former national park director and wildlife biologist Heinrich Haller

Since 1 April 2015, Luxembourg has made the right decision, based on verifiable scientific facts, and banned fox hunting.

Those who senselessly kill wild animals are not protecting anything, and it brings no benefit to civilised society. In Switzerland, there are human injuries and fatalities every year caused by the risk group of recreational hunters. Recreational hunting and its slaughter, organised by the cantonal administrations, is not scientific, wildlife-biologically sound or professional wildlife management. The staff of these authorities still hold the view that animal cruelty is tradition. Not only for the fox is there no numerical kill quota, meaning any recreational hunter can simply shoot away, depending on mood and whim.

It is crystal clear that with professional game wardens, as in Geneva, a completely different standard replaces recreational hunters. Wild animals benefit from this through less suffering, as do the population, nature and the environment. Champions League instead of amateur tournaments.

Studies in various countries and at various points in time have demonstrated the influence of the red fox not only on the roe deer population: for the Bernese Mittelland, it is estimated that a fox can catch an average of eleven fawns between May and July. Yet in the canton of Bern, recreational hunters shoot around 2,500 healthy foxes every year for the bin. Precisely the number needed so that the risk group can later spread their hunters' tales as indispensable regulators.

Recreational hunters don't save roe deer fawns so that they can live either; instead, a few months later they cowardly and treacherously shoot them dead themselves – currently around 1,600 per year in the canton of Bern. If the wild animals are lucky, they die instantly; but as is so often the case, they are merely wounded and left to suffer. Professional game wardens are demonstrably the better marksmen, which results in less animal suffering.

Bern: Stoppt das Fuchs- und Dachsmassaker

Especially when it comes to recreational hunting, it is absolutely essential that the public pays very close attention. Nowhere else is there so much manipulation through untruths. Violence and lies are two sides of the same coin. Recreational hunting, not only in the canton of Bern, has for decades been nothing but a permanently costly construction site and point of contention for politics, forestry, agriculture, administrations, the judiciary, health insurers, insurance companies, animal welfare organisations, environmental and nature conservation organisations, police, the federal government, the media, and so on. The canton of Bern does not need anywhere near as many game wardens to easily compensate for the damage and costs once recreational hunters are abolished.

Taxpayers would probably save hundreds of millions of francs that the federal government, cantons and municipalities pump into forest conservation, if there were no recreational hunters left.

The hunting association president

Judging by his body language in the film report, amateur hunter Lorenz Hess felt uncomfortable in his own skin. He did what he does best.

Lorenz Hess: «Geneva has an army of state hunters who have nothing to do with wildlife wardens.»

In truth, it is exactly the opposite. Before the hunting ban in 1974 in the canton of Geneva, around 420 recreational hunting licences were sold per year, and 7 game wardens were active. Moreover, an army always implies thousands of units.

So what hundreds of recreational hunters used to do pointlessly in the canton of Geneva is now handled more exemplarily by a good dozen game wardens, who share 3 full-time positions between them alongside many other duties. It is also known from the canton of Geneva that not only the monitoring of recreational hunters etc. was an enormous financial burden. Today, the game wardens cost taxpayers the equivalent of a cup of coffee per year in wage costs, and the added value in biodiversity for the public is gigantic.

There are years when in the canton of Geneva for example no red deer, roe deer, red fox, badger, marten, brown hare, jay etc. are shot, according to the federal hunting statistics. This is because there are no hunting seasons for recreational hunters, unlike in other cantons. In the canton of Geneva, wild animals primarily have a year-round closed season. Many wild animals are visible and can be experienced by the public, which is scientifically proven and valuable for the health of animals and people.

Sanitary and therapeutic kills carried out by game wardens in Geneva are not the same as decimating hunting based on hunters' lore or a misunderstood experience of nature. According to biologists, recreational hunting does not necessarily mean fewer wild animals, but more births. On closer analysis, recreational hunters provide no «compulsory service» to the public, and certainly not to wild animals. Wild animals do not like recreational hunters. Recreational hunters would not perform any “compulsory service” if they were not allowed to kill.

Facts instead of hunters' tales

Across all cantons and over several years, finds of roe deer carcasses with gunshot wounds in the cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Jura, Basel-Landschaft, Schwyz and Zurich, and of fox carcasses in the cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Grisons and Zurich, consistently account for by far the largest share of such finds.

Given the stress and pathological hunting pressure exerted by recreational hunters in habitats that are in some areas densely populated, it is hardly surprising that wild animals become ill.

What Mr Lorenz Hess always forgets to mention is that game wardens with a federal certificate of competence undergo a demanding three-year additional training programme. In disregard of the animal welfare act, amateur hunters commit appalling acts of animal cruelty and countless criminal offences, away from public scrutiny. In the canton of Grisons alone, there are more than 1,000 reports and fines against recreational hunters every year.

The canton of Grisons has had excellent experiences with how the wolf reduces the population of roe deer and red deer, and this has made it possible, among other things, to reduce the special hunt in certain areas. The forestry association is delighted. The reintroduction of the lynx has also led to a marked decline in the roe deer population in various regions of Switzerland. This is scientifically proven. For example, in the Toggenburg, Uri, Bernese Oberland or Solothurn. Roe deer and chamois are typical prey for the lynx, so this development is hardly surprising. Forest health and the cultural landscape fare far better where there are predators instead of recreational hunters. Who complains? It's always the recreational hunting associations.

Who is it that keeps fighting national parks on the front line? The recreational hunting associations.

Who is it that keeps opposing the protection of endangered species, as is currently happening in Canton of Uri? The recreational hunting associations.

The Centre Party politician Lorenz Hess is also campaigning politically to strengthen the domestic fur market through the pointless fox hunt.

It is therefore no surprise that in the past it has always been animal welfare advocates who have driven improvements in wildlife protection. Recreational hunters always reacted reluctantly to initiatives for progress. Common sense has led to more wildlife protection in hunting practice — for example, through the abolition of leg-hold traps or the hunting of birds with birdlime. Animal welfare advocates were the driving force behind restricting hunting seasons and reducing the number of huntable species. To prevent the extinction of species, animal welfare advocates imposed on recreational hunters a moral obligation towards wildlife management. The same applies to the whole issue of ammunition, wildlife corridors, and so on, coming onto the agenda. The ethics of recreational hunters have traditionally always lagged behind the spirit of the times.

Under federal law, no canton in Switzerland is required to permit recreational hunting. It is the right of the cantons to decide whether recreational hunting is allowed or not. If a canton decides against recreational hunting, or even only partially against it, it is free to do so under the Federal Constitution. The canton of Geneva has long since chosen this exemplary path. Many cantons already prohibit recreational hunting locally through hunting ban areas, wildlife sanctuaries, and the like.

Nature enthusiasts actively enjoy wonderful experiences in nature without executing wild animals in order to feel good about it. There are countless praiseworthy people who also make use of, nurture, and care for nature — performing sustainable, selfless work with the fire brigade, civil protection, animal welfare, the Mountain Forest Project, building dry stone walls, maintaining biotopes, carrying out countryside conservation work, rescuing roe deer fawns, running wildlife stations, and so on. None of them would ever dream of demanding a violent sacrifice in the form of a living creature for it, as recreational hunters do.

Dossiers: Foxes in Switzerland: The Most Hunted Predator Without a Lobby | Fox hunting without facts: How JagdSchweiz invents problems

Natural disaster: recreational hunters

In the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of recreational hunters' game management and care, the hunters is proportion of threatened species higher than in any other country in the world. For decades, these contract killers have been creating an ecological imbalance in the cultivated landscape, with sometimes dramatic consequences (protective forests, diseases, agricultural damage, and much more). Over a third of plant, Wild animals and fungus species are considered threatened. Switzerland is also at the bottom of the European rankings when it comes to designating protected areas for biodiversity. It is precisely these circles of recreational hunters, with their lobbying, who through politics, the media and legislation must be held responsible for this over decades. It is they who notoriously block modern, ethical improvements in animal welfare and sabotage serious animal and species protection. Recreational hunters regularly oppose more national parks in Switzerland, precisely because it is not nature, biodiversity, species protection or Animal welfare that matters to them, but the pursuit of their perverse, bloody hobby.

Did you know…

• that in Switzerland innocent young wolves are eliminated?
• that recreational hunters lie when it comes to assessing game meat quality, and that, according to the WHO, processed game meat is carcinogenic, just like cigarettes, asbestos or arsenic?
• that, according to a study, the lead contamination of golden eagles and bearded vultures is nowhere higher than in the Swiss Alps, because of recreational hunters' ammunition?
• that the Fair chase that recreational hunting is diametrically opposed to the animal welfare act, that it's a fata morgana?
• that hunting is war, where animal competitors are simply liquidated?
• that there are countless illegal and unmarked high seats in our countryside, some so rotten that they pose a danger to children, and that people can be killed?
• that year after year countless people are killed or injured by hunters' weapons, sometimes so badly that they end up in a wheelchair or have limbs amputated?
• that in Switzerland around 120,000 completely healthy roe deer, red deer, foxes, marmots and chamois are killed every year, mostly senselessly?
• that because of recreational hunters it is now hardly possible to live in harmony with wild animals or to see them at all?
• that shotgun blasts make hares scream like small children, and that the innards of “shot” roe deer and red deer are torn apart so that they leave a trail for the follow-up search as they flee?
• that the recreational hunters' claim that the cruel wild animal massacres are necessary to regulate populations has been scientifically disproved?
• that recreational hunters openly admit that hunting is about the “thrill of killing” and “the joy of making a kill”, a pathological passion?
• that recreational hunters have no sixth sense, yet regularly claim they only shoot sick and weak animals, which of course is not true in practice?
• that recreational hunters travel abroad for trophy hunting, far from any species and hunting protection regulations, and that there are even Swiss hobby-hunter travel operators for such feeble-minded hunting pleasures?
• that the vast majority are not legitimate professional hunters but pursue hunting as a hobby, sport and leisure pastime, which is not moral and actually contradicts the animal welfare act?
• that 99.07% of civilised people in Switzerland are not recreational hunters, meaning only 0.3% of recreational hunters take pleasure in these bloody activities?
• that these wild animal killers do not hunt on the basis of scientific justification?
• that protected species should not actually be part of hunting law, because recreational hunters are overwhelmed by species protection and repeatedly shoot animals on the Red List, such as lynx, wolf, European hare, grey partridge, quail, etc., just for fun?
• that recreational hunters deliberately decimate certain animal species so as to have no competition for their unnatural behaviour (fox, lynx, wolf, birds of prey, etc.)?
• that wild animals dying before the recreational hunter can even fire a single shot is something to be prevented, and that this is presumably the central idea behind wildlife management and hunting planning?
• that with wild boar (and foxes) normally only the lead sow has young, but because she is shot, all the female animals within the sounder reproduce, which is one of the reasons we have a wild boar glut?
• that grazing animals – red deer, roe deer, etc. – originally lived mainly diurnally in fields and meadows, like goats, sheep, cows, etc., and not in the forest?
• that the wolf is vital in the long term for keeping wild ungulates healthy, because, for example, it captures sick or weak animals with incredible precision and is thereby far superior to recreational hunters?
• that foxes usually end up in the rubbish after being senselessly hunted?
• that foxes are mainly hunted today so that there are more hares, etc., for recreational hunters' frying pans? That the fox, however, does not feed on hares more than 90% of the time, and never catches a healthy hare?
• that one cannot combat recreational hunters in animal welfare matters with gentleness, street festivals, prayer chains, etc. alone (a crude block needs a crude wedge)?
• that recreational hunters engage in a disrespectful mockery of living beings with their hunters' tall tales?
• that it is frowned upon to shoot high game at a feeding site or during mating season, but the recreational hunter has no scruples about doing this to the fox, a competing predator?
• that in some cantons recreational hunters go hunting solely for the tender meat of a young animal?
• that recreational hunters shoot pregnant mother animals in front of their young, or shoot only young animals during the rearing period (post special hunt)?
• that recreational hunters poison the environment, nature, humans and animals with their ammunition?
• that bestiality, barbarism, cruelty, bloodshed and pointless suffering cannot be a cultural asset in a civilised society?
• that recreational hunters shoot around 10,000 roe deer fawns every year?
• that in harsh winters recreational hunters lure starving animals with feed, only to shoot them cowardly and treacherously?
• that recreational hunters send riled-up dogs into burrows to eliminate foxes and badgers (earth hunting)?
• that recreational hunters lure peaceful creatures into box traps, where they may suffer for days waiting for their killer, or where the animals often endure a hours-long death struggle (trap hunting)?
• that recreational hunters cowardly assassinate or injure peaceful wild animals while they are sleeping or sunbathing, using highly modern precision weapons from ambush?
• that recreational hunters support awards, fur markets, prize ceremonies for the trophy cult, trophy shows, fur trade, etc.?
• that recreational hunters put firearms into the hands of underage schoolchildren and practise killing with them?
• that recreational hunters often carry out their agonising deeds in solitude, which promotes animal cruelty?
• that recreational hunters only severely injure many wild animals, and the victims often suffer for hours in enormous agony and fear until a blood-tracking dog finds them and they are shot?
• that recreational hunters (apart from vivisection) inflict the most suffering and abuse on animals, including through the manner of killing?
• that a hunter's love of animals and nature does not delight in the existence of the beloved object, but rather aims to possess the beloved creature body and soul, culminating in making it prey through the act of killing?
• that recreational hunters actually promote browsing damage through hunting pressure, especially on predators such as fox, lynx and wolf?
• that recreational hunters open the door to antisocial, unethical and unchristian behaviour?
• that recreational hunters deprive the public of normal, natural wildlife observation and interaction?
• that there is no bigger, ammunition-contaminated torment product than game meat?
• that there is no uniform nationwide regulation regarding eye tests, shooting practice, etc. for recreational hunters?
• that there is no psychological character test for recreational hunters?
• that there is no alcohol ban for recreational hunters when they shoot at animals with their weapons?
• that recreational hunters intrude into school facilities to peddle their hunters' tall tales and violence to children?
• that a court in Bellinzona recently confirmed that hunting associations promote practically everything that is cruel, unnecessary and heartless?
• that the association «JagdSchweiz» primarily cultivates disrespect and a culture of violence – exactly the opposite of what a cultivated person in our society should strive for.
• that in the canton of Grisons alone, over 1,000 complaints and fines are imposed against recreational hunters every year?