Hunting scene in the canton of St. Gallen: Conviction for illegal badger hunting
In St. Gallen, two hobby hunters received penalty orders for digging up a badger sett and subsequently shooting two badgers.
A hobby hunter aged 39 decides, together with a hunting companion, to excavate a badger sett in order to decimate the population of badgers .
One of the individuals uses an excavator to dig a hole two to three metres deep. The 39-year-old hunter then kills two badgers with a total of four shots from a double-barrelled over-and-under shotgun, calibre 12. The man loads the killed animals into his car and disposes of them at an animal carcass disposal site.
Even without hunting, there would not suddenly be too many foxes, hares or birds. Experience shows that nature can be left to its own devices. From a purely pragmatic perspective, small game hunting is not necessary. Heinrich Haller, former National Park Director Grisons and wildlife biologist
The hobby hunter has now been convicted of an offence against the Hunting Act. He receives a fine of 40 daily rates of 130 francs each, which is suspended. If the man from Thurgau commits no further offences in the next two years, he will not have to pay the fine. However, he must pay 325 francs in police and prosecution costs. The excavator driver has also received a penalty. The sentence of the 33-year-old is almost equal to that of the shooter. For the same offence, he received a suspended fine of 40 daily rates of 100 francs each. He too must serve a two-year probationary period, and the procedural costs also amount to 325 francs.
The hunt took place on 13 January 2024, three days before the start of the closed season for badgers, and violated the Hunting Act, as excavating badger setts with an excavator is not permitted. In total, 181 badgers were shot in the canton of St. Gallen in the past year, while a further 253 died of natural causes.
Once again, it becomes clear how useless hunting training is. It serves and protects absolutely nothing. IG Wild beim Wild
According to renowned biologists and hunting association presidents, small game hunting is a pointless leisure activity for violent individuals. It is also not in keeping with fair chase principles to hunt wildlife in their own habitat.
If there were fewer problematic hunters harboring ideas of exploiting nature, more ordinary people could once again devote themselves to the concept of nature conservation – people who care for species with respect, decency and fairness, and who do not slaughter wildlife for fun.
In the canton of St. Gallen, according to hunting statistics, 181 badgers were shot by hobby hunters last year. A further 253 animals died as fallen game, meaning they perished without the violent intervention of a hobby hunter – for example through disease, hunger, cold or road accidents, reports the Tagblatt.
Evidently, these hobby hunters are neither well trained nor do they possess sound moral integrity.
Particularly with regard to hunting and hobby hunters, it is essential that the public pays very close attention. Nowhere else is there so much manipulation through falsehoods and fake news.Violence and lies are two sides of the same coin. Hobby hunting has been nothing other than a permanently costly construction site, patchwork and point of contention for politics, forestry and agriculture, public authorities, the judiciary, health insurers, insurance companies, animal welfare, environmental and nature conservation organizations, the police, federal authorities, the media, etc. for decades.
Any other organization with so much criminal energy would long since have come under the scrutiny of the federal prosecutor's office!
Current criminal offenses by hobby hunters in Switzerland are listed here: Link
