Living in harmony with criminality

In hunting communication it often sounds like nature meditation: silent waiting, responsible 'regulation', supposedly for the protection of species and ecosystems.

Exactly in this tone, the Davoser Zeitung describes pass hunting as 'living in harmony with nature', when foxes are 'regulated' by hobby hunters.

The problem is not just the choice of words. The problem is the system behind it. Because while 'harmony' suggests it's about science and public welfare, what runs in practice is recreational hunting that produces suffering, creates risks and ecologically barely delivers what it promises.

According to the Office for Hunting and Fisheries in the Canton of Graubünden, there are over 1,000 charges and/or fines against hobby hunters every year in that canton alone, because they violate hunting laws or are involved in other criminal activities.

Those who want to live 'in harmony with nature' build habitats, reduce disturbances, protect wildlife and ensure effective livestock protection. Those who, on the other hand, go on pass hunting with rifles, do not live in harmony, but within a system of normalized violent practices that regularly end in legal violations, missed shots and excuses.

Fox hunting: much assertion, little effect

The core myth states: foxes must be shot, otherwise they 'get out of hand'. This has been claimed for decades, but repeatedly disproven. Biologically, the red fox is highly flexible. Where hunting pressure exists, populations often react with compensatory effects: more immigration, higher reproduction, earlier breeding.A factsheet clearly summarizes it: In the field, density often cannot be permanently reduced through recreational hunting because losses are compensated. So if the goal is to 'reduce populations', fox hunting is in many cases not only cruel, but simply ineffective.

Luxembourg shows how thin the justifications are

Real counter-examples are particularly revealing. Luxembourg has banned fox hunting since 2015. According to a scientific compilation, there are no signs of an exploding fox population there and no collapse of rare animal species; even the often-cited parasite argument delivers no 'catastrophe'.

Hunting-free regions: The strongest argument is reality

Those who want to know whether nature functions without hobby hunting don't need to speculate. The Canton of Geneva has been hunting-free since 1974. This is not a romantic experiment, but a long-term case that shows: wildlife management is also possible without private shooting lust. And when regulation is really necessary, then as a state measure with strict justification, not as a recreational activity with trophy logic and 'seasons'. Wild beim Wild also provides concrete political initiative ideas that envision the Geneva model as a pilot area.

When 'regulation' in practice means confusion and legal violations

The contradiction between narrative and reality becomes even harsher where protected animals die because shots are fired despite existing uncertainty.

Such cases are not a side issue. They are a direct consequence of carrying firearms into a complex, dynamic system where split-second decisions determine life and death. This is not 'harmony'. This is a risk with predictable victims.

Pass hunting is a symbol of this: invisible hobby hunters, invisible consequences

The Davos newspaper describes the time after the high hunt as apparent calm, in which hobby hunters remain present, 'individually, quietly, inconspicuously', and now the fox comes 'into focus'. This very invisibility is part of the problem. For the more 'inconspicuously' hunting is conducted, the easier it becomes to suppress the fact that this is not nature conservation work, but the targeted killing of a sentient wild animal, often without reliable benefit, but with measurable side effects: injured animals, missed shots, disrupted social structures, normalization of violence in the landscape.

What would be honest?

It would be honest not to sell fox hunting as «regulation», but to name it for what it often is: recreational hunting of an animal that plays an important role in many ecosystems, and whose «problem status» is regularly produced politically and culturally. It would also be honest to learn from places that have moved further ahead: Luxembourg without fox hunting, Geneva without hobby hunting, plus many national parks. Not as utopia, but as verifiable practice.

Why pleasure in killing is not a harmless recreational motive

A psychological classification of hobby hunting between empathy inhibition, pleasure-based violence and social normalization.

People who take pleasure in killing living beings and paying for it show, from a psychological perspective, abnormal recreational behavior. This behavior contradicts fundamental mechanisms of empathy, compassion and moral inhibition that exist in most mentally healthy people. Psychologically, it constitutes deviant violent behavior, even if it is politically or culturally tolerated.

Pleasure in killing is a classic characteristic of pleasure-based violence. The act of violence itself is rewarding. Not the result, not the necessity, but the killing. This is not a fringe phenomenon, but clearly described in violence psychology.

Those who experience hobby hunting as pleasure show a psychologically problematic motivation for violence that is historically and structurally related to authoritarian and devaluing ideologies.

Dossiers: Fox in Switzerland: Most hunted predator without lobby | Fox hunting without facts: How JagdSchweiz invents problems

Related articles

• Fred Kurt: The Roe Deer in the Cultural Landscape. Ecology, Social Behavior, Hunting and Management. Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, p. 83.
• Federal hunting statistics Link
• Explanations and sources Link
• Scientific literature: Red fox studies
• Hunters spread diseases: Study
• Hunting promotes diseases: Study
• Hobby hunters in crime: The list
• Ban on senseless fox hunting is overdue: Article
• Luxembourg extends fox hunting ban: Article
• Ground hunting and wildlife diseases: Article
• Deterrence of wild animals: Article

Fundamentals and classifications of pass hunting are in the Dossier.