Grisons orders wolf kill in Lantsch/Lenz without justification

On 28 October 2026, the Grisons Office for Hunting and Fisheries published its quarterly report on predators. For the first time, it states why the canton ordered the kill of a wolf in the Lantsch/Lenz region on 22 September: “delayed flight behaviour”. The order itself had been known since 5 October, as a table row in the monitoring, without a word of justification. What the behaviour specifically means, by which criteria the canton decides, and why two other wolves with the same behaviour did not receive an order remains unanswered even now. There was no press release on either the order or the report.

Two sentences in chapter 1.6

The “Quarterly Report on Large Predators” 3/2026 is dated 30 September and appeared, as provided for in the office’s communication concept, in the last week of October, though only as a note on the office's web page and not “by press release”, as the same concept requires. Under “Special incidents” it reads: “In the area of the municipalities of Lantsch/Lenz, Vaz/Obervaz and Albula/Alvra, there were several sightings of a wolf near settlements which exhibited delayed flight behaviour. Due to the undesirable behaviour towards humans, a kill permit was ordered for this wolf in September.”

“Wolf Management Monitoring” for September lists the order under “Lansch/lenz” dated 22 September 2026; according to the office's web page, it was published on 5 October. The existence of the order was thus public for three weeks, its reason was not. No kill was recorded by 30 September. Neither the report nor the monitoring mentions an attack, an injured person or a livestock kill by this wolf. How close the animal came to people, how often and under what circumstances, is not described by the canton.

The same behaviour, two different responses

The same report records one sighting each, in Surses and in Breil/Brigels, of a wolf showing «delayed flight behaviour». No order was issued for either of these two animals. The difference apparently lies in the frequency of sightings and the proximity to settlements, but the canton discloses no threshold: after how many encounters does a wolf that stands its ground become a wolf that may be killed?

The monitoring also records a second order, dated 3 September, for a wolf in the «Mittelprättigau». For this one, too, the quarterly report gives no reason. For neither order is there a press release from the cantonal chancellery or a note under «Aktuelles» (News) on the office's website, even though the communication concept provides for exactly that in the case of «current, special events».

The background: Lantsch/Lenz is not a new case

The office has known about the region since May 2025. According to the Monitoring Wolfsmanagement January 2026, the canton had already ordered the kill of a single wolf for «Vaz/Obervaz, Lantsch/Lenz, Albula/Alvra» on 28 May 2025; on 28 July 2025 the table notes the «expiry of the kill permit». The first order thus lapsed unused after 60 days. The Quarterly Report 3/2025 reported for September 2025 an encounter between a person and a wolf in Lantsch/Lenz in which the animal showed «delayed flight behaviour». The Quarterly Report 4/2025 states that in November 2025 two wolves there reacted with a delay and were «hazed by the local wildlife wardens». In the Lenzerheide/Arosa area, the territory of the former Lenzerhorn pack, the canton confirmed at least one wolf pair at the end of 2025.

According to the Press release of 3 February 2026, the canton confirmed this single-wolf kill «due to behavioural abnormalities» in «Lantsch-Lenz»; at that time single wolves had been killed only in Pontresina, Sils i. E. and Surses. The Quarterly Report 2/2026 again reports sightings of wolves «with delayed flight behaviour» in Vaz/Obervaz. The chronology is therefore as follows: order in May 2025, expiry in July, encounter in September, hazing in November, sightings in spring 2026, second order on 22 September 2026.

That the hazing in November 2025 worked is stated in the canton's own report. Why this method should no longer be sufficient ten months later, it does not explain.

What else the report says

As of 30 September, the canton counts, on paper, 16.5 wolf packs; 19 packs are wholly or partly present in Grisons. The monitoring reports at least 88 pups for 2026; 17 wolves were killed in September as part of the regulation, and 61 have been approved for killing. In addition there are 344 confirmed lynx records, 37 of them with young, and 34 bear records, mainly from Zernez, Scuol and Valsot. Livestock kills for 2026 amount to 122 sheep and goats and six head of large livestock by the end of September.

grheute.ch reported on 28 October on the kill permit. The "Engadiner Post" summarised the report under the title «Wolf and bear feel at home in the Engadine» and left out the order.

Context

The canton cites no legal basis. The most likely candidate is Art. 9b of the Hunting Ordinance: a danger to people exists «in particular if a wolf, of its own accord and regularly, stays within or in the immediate vicinity of settlements and in doing so shows too little shyness towards people». The permit is «to be limited to a maximum of 60 days» and restricted to the places where the danger arises. However, Art. 9b applies only to wolves «that do not belong to a pack». In the Lenzerheide/Arosa area, the canton confirmed at least one wolf pair at the end of 2025, and the monitoring does not assign the order to any social unit; if the wolf belongs to a pair or pack, stricter conditions would apply. Whether the criteria are met cannot be checked from the outside, because the canton discloses neither the order nor the number and nature of the encounters. «Delayed flight behaviour» is not a legal term; the FOEN's Wolf Concept for Switzerland classifies encounters into categories, and the office's communication concept promises to report conspicuous behaviour of the «red» and «black» levels in the quarterly report. The report does not say which level the canton assigns to this wolf's behaviour.

There is a further point: according to the canton itself, deterrence worked in Lantsch/Lenz in November 2025. Anyone who issues another kill order ten months later would have to explain why the milder measure is no longer sufficient. That evidence is missing from the order, which has not been published, and it is missing from the quarterly report, which mentions it weeks later in two sentences.

A pattern emerges: the canton of Grisons kills wolves under its proactive regulation, without demonstrating the benefit, and it orders individual kills without disclosing the criteria. How thin such justifications can be was shown in 2025 by a case in the canton of Schwyz: A critical look at the kill order for a wolf. The tally of all kills is kept by the Wolf kill counter Switzerland 2026/27, while the Grisons season is documented by the Live ticker Grisons.