Is trophy hunting in Valais for a good cause?

Trophy hunting is a controversial subject that sparks heated debate in many countries. While some supporters argue that the practice can help to conserve wildlife populations, there are just as many opponents who question its ethical and moral aspects.

Wild beim Wild editorial team — 7 August 2025

A central point made by supporters is that trophy hunting often generates funding.

The fees paid by hobby hunters supposedly flow into projects to conserve habitats, combat poaching and protect endangered species. In some regions, these funds are even said to be decisive for preserving biodiversity. Why don't the perpetrators of violence simply donate the money and leave out the suffering they cause?

Studies document that trophy hunting decimates wildlife populations, can manipulate reproduction rates, shifts age and sex ratios and impairs social structures.

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No lynx kills in Valais

The lynx is genetically at its limit, yet Valais is set to become the first canton in Switzerland to authorise its killing.

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For good reason, more and more countries are banning the import of hunting trophies. Wildlife populations are manipulated, corruption is encouraged, colonial structures are entrenched and the ethical values of our society are disregarded. Trophy hunting is rejected by a considerable majority in Europe, but also by many people in Africa.

Umstrittene Steinbockjagd im Wallis

Valais is the only canton in Switzerland that once again permits ibex to be hunted by foreign trophy hunters.

The mountain canton allows trophy hunters from around the world to shoot ibex for money – accompanied by a Valais game warden. What is an adventure for the foreign hobby hunters is a lucrative business for the canton of Valais: ibex hunting brings 650,000 francs into the state coffers every year. The canton of Valais uses this income, among other things, to subsequently combat the wolf.

Wolves and other apex predators play an important role in natural ecosystems. Amid a worldwide crisis leading to a widespread collapse of biodiversity, wolves, according to conservationists, help to keep the species they hunt healthy by preying on weak or sick animals and reducing the spread of diseases such as Lyme disease. They keep populations of roe deer, wild boars and other ungulates in check and on the move, so that plants and shrubs that might otherwise be eaten have a chance to grow. Their presence is celebrated by environmentalists as a sign of hope for nature's recovery.

Jean-Michel Gaillard, a research director at the University of Lyon, states that around 36% of all ibex older than 11 years are shot. That is a large proportion. Since it is above all older ibex that reproduce, the hunt threatens the balance of the herds. The hunting authorities in Valais, however, see no risk.

Former State Councillor Jacques Melly also responded in 2019. Speaking to RTS, the State Councillor responsible for hunting said at the time that they had already been considering since April banning this type of ibex hunting for foreigners. “It no longer corresponds to today's spirit of the times.”

Killing animals for trophies is partly criminal, but always wrong – an anti-culture.

The national park in Switzerland shows that chamois or ibex require no human regulation. The populations have been stable over decades.

Killing for a good cause?

1. Ethical concerns

The ethical questions are one of the biggest points of contention in the debate around trophy hunting. Many people see the killing of animals for fun or to embellish walls as cruel. The idea of regarding animals as trophies raises moral concerns and leads to a general resentment towards this practice.

Trophy hunting is not about «game management», population control or the preservation of healthy animal populations. Quite the opposite: trophy hunters engage in an unnatural selection, since they target particularly outstanding animals of often endangered species, which are especially important for the survival of a population.

Numerous reports show that the money from trophy hunting ends up above all in the pockets of the wrong people.

2. Danger of over-hunting

There is a risk that trophy hunting can lead to the overhunting of certain species. In some cases, populations of wild animals have been endangered and wiped out because they were hunted excessively.

3. Loss of habitat

Trophy hunting can also have a negative impact on animals' habitat. Areas are often developed for hunting activities, which can lead to the fragmentation of habitats and a decline in other animal species. Moreover, the focus on certain species can result in other, less «attractive» species and their habitats being neglected. Every hunting activity by a hobby hunter is an unnecessary burden on flora and fauna.

4. Speciesism

Analogous to the terms racism and sexism, speciesism describes a form of discrimination – more precisely, the devaluation of sentient animals on the basis of their species. Here, humans are regarded as superior to all other species. Distinctions are also drawn between different animal species: many people, for instance, regard cats and dogs as family members and refuse to exploit or kill them, unlike wolves, ibex or red deer.

Addendum 2026: New regulation model

For the 2026 hunting period, the canton of Valais has introduced a new model for the «regulation» of ibex: a basic quota of two animals per approved hobby hunter, adjusted tariffs and, in the event of an excess of registrations, a draw. Registration ran online from 1 to 30 April 2026. This changes nothing at heart: the «good cause» remains a marketing exercise that passes off the killing of capital ibex as nature conservation. How the former rescue of the «king of the Alps» was turned back into a trophy is traced in our dossier «The ibex in Switzerland: smuggled, rescued and once again degraded to a trophy».

Natural disaster: hobby hunters

In the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of care and management by hobby hunters, the share of threatened species is greater in no other country in the world than in Switzerland. For decades, these hired killers have been creating an ecological imbalance in the cultural landscape, with at times dramatic consequences (protective forest, diseases, agricultural damage and much more). More than a third of plant, wild animal and fungus species are considered threatened. The Switzerland also brings up the rear across Europe when it comes to designating protected areas for biodiversity. It is precisely these same circles of hobby hunters and their lobbying that have been responsible for this for decades, through politics, the media and legislation. It is they who notoriously block contemporary, ethical improvements in animal welfare and sabotage serious animal and species protection. Hobby hunters regularly oppose more national parks in Switzerland, because for them it is simply not about nature, biodiversity and species protection or animal welfare, but about pursuing their perverse, bloody hobby.

Did you know …

that in Switzerland innocent young wolves are liquidated?
that hobby hunters lie when it comes to the assessment of game meat quality, and that according to the WHO processed game meat is carcinogenic like cigarettes, asbestos or arsenic?
that, according to a study, nowhere is the lead contamination of golden eagles and bearded vultures higher than in the Swiss Alps, because of hobby hunters' ammunition?
that the code of hunting ethics of hobby hunters diametrically contradicts the animal welfare act and is a mirage?
that hunting is war, where one simply liquidates animal competitors?
that there are countless illegal and unmarked high seats in our countryside, some so rotten that they pose a danger to children and people can be killed?
that year after year countless people are killed or injured by hunters' weapons, some so severely that they end up in a wheelchair or have limbs amputated?
that in Switzerland around 120,000 perfectly healthy roe deer, red deer, foxes, marmots and chamois are killed every year, mostly senselessly?
that, because of hobby hunters, it is now barely possible to live in harmony with wild animals or to see wild animals at all?
that shotgun loads make hares cry out like small children, and tear apart the innards of “shot” roe deer and red deer so that they leave a trail for the follow-up search as they flee?
that hobby hunters' claim that the cruel massacres of wild animals are necessary to regulate wildlife populations has been scientifically refuted?
that hobby hunters openly admit that hunting is about the “lust for killing” and “the joy of taking prey” – a pathological passion?
that hobby hunters have no sixth sense and yet regularly claim they only shoot sick and weak animals, which of course is not true in practice?
that hobby hunters travel abroad for trophy hunting, far from any species protection and hunting regulations, and that there are even Swiss hobby hunter tour operators for such moronic hunting pleasures?
that the overwhelming majority are not legitimate professional hunters, but rather pursue hunting as a hobby, sport and leisure pleasure, which is not ethical and actually contradicts the animal welfare act?
that 99.07% of civilised people in Switzerland are not hobby hunters, meaning only 0.3% of hobby hunters take pleasure in these bloody activities?
that these wildlife killers do not hunt on the basis of scientific justifications?
that protected species actually do not belong under hunting law, because hobby hunters are overwhelmed by species protection and repeatedly shoot animals on the Red List, such as lynx, wolf, brown hare, grey partridge, quail, etc., for fun?
that hobby hunters deliberately decimate certain animal species so as to have no competition for their unnatural behaviour (fox, lynx, wolf, birds of prey, etc.)?
that the game dies before the hobby hunter can even fire a single shot, that this is to be prevented, and that this is surely the central idea of stewardship and care as well as hunting planning?
that among the wild boars (and foxes) normally only the lead sow has young, but because of her being shot all female animals within the sounder reproduce, and that this is also why we have a wild boar glut?
that grazing animals – red deer, roe deer, etc. – originally lived mainly by day on 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 hobby hunters?
that foxes, after the senseless hunt, usually end up in the rubbish?
that foxes are hunted today mainly so that there are more hares, etc. for the hobby hunters in the frying pan? That the fox, however, feeds on hares in less than 10% of cases, and never catches a healthy hare?
that one cannot act against hobby hunters in animal welfare with gentleness, street festivals, prayer chains, etc. alone (a rough wedge belongs on a rough block)?
that hobby hunters, with their hunter's tall tales, engage in a disrespectful mockery of living creatures?
that it is frowned upon to shoot big game at a feeding site or during the mating season, yet the hobby hunter has no scruples about doing exactly this to the prey competitor, the fox?
that in some cantons hobby hunters go hunting solely for the tender meat of a young animal?
that hobby hunters shoot pregnant mother animals in front of their young, or shoot only young animals during the rearing period (post-special hunt)?
that hobby hunters poison the environment, nature, humans and animals with their ammunition?
that bestiality, barbarism, cruelty, bloodshed and senseless suffering cannot be a cultural asset in a civilised society?
that hobby hunters shoot around 10,000 roe deer fawns every year?
that in the harsh winter hobby hunters lure starving animals with food, only to be able to shoot them in an underhanded and cowardly manner?
that hobby hunters set trained dogs on animals in their dens to eliminate foxes and badgers (earth hunting)?
that hobby hunters lure peaceful creatures into box traps, where they may have to suffer for days on end waiting for their killer, or often subjecting the animals to hours of agonising death throes (trap hunting)?
that hobby hunters cowardly murder or wound peaceful wild animals while they sleep or bask in the sun, ambushing them with state-of-the-art precision weapons?
that hobby hunters support awards, fur markets, prize-givings for the trophy cult, trophy shows, the fur trade, and so on?
that hobby hunters place firearms into the hands of underage schoolchildren and practise killing with them?
that hobby hunters often carry out their agonising deeds in solitude, which encourages animal cruelty?
that hobby hunters merely seriously wound many wild animals and that the victims often suffer for hours in enormous agony and fear until a tracking dog finds them and they are shot?
that hobby hunters (apart from vivisection) inflict the most suffering and abuse on animals, also through the manner of killing?
that the hunter's love of animals and nature does not take pleasure in the existence of the beloved object, but rather aims to possess the beloved creature entirely, culminating in turning it into prey through the act of killing?
that hobby hunters positively encourage browsing damage through hunting pressure, particularly on predators such as the fox, lynx and wolf?
that hobby hunters for antisocial, unethical and the floodgates to unchristian behaviour open?
that hobby hunters deprive the population of normal, natural wildlife observations and interactions?
that there is no more agonising product, contaminated with ammunition, than game meat?
that there is no uniform nationwide regulation regarding eyesight tests, shooting practice, etc. for hobby hunters?
that there is no psychological character test for hobby hunters?
that there is no alcohol ban for hobby hunters when they shoot at animals with their weapons?
that hobby hunters intrude into school institutions to talk their hunters' tales and their violence into the children?
that a court in Bellinzona recently confirmed that hunting clubs promote practically everything that is cruel, unnecessary and heartless?
that the association «Jagd Schweiz» 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 charges and fines are imposed against hobby hunters every year?