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No to the hunting fair at the Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach!

From 7 to 8 March 2026, a so-called Jagdmesse Schweiz (Hunting Fair Switzerland) is to take place at the Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach, an event that sells the killing of animals as a leisure pastime. We say: this is not culture. This is violence.

Hobby hunting is not a contribution to nature conservation, but a relic from a time when killing wild animals was regarded as a “sport”. Today we know:

There is no ecological reason to hunt carrion crows, foxes, badgers or other wild animals.
Hunting causes animal suffering, ecological damage and victims, including among humans.
Fox hunting is a despicable ritual that serves neither population maintenance nor nature conservation.

We call on the Umwelt Arena and the municipality of Spreitenbach:

No stage for a culture of violence and cruelty to animals!
No more space for hunting and animal market events!

Cruelty to animals at terrarium markets

Events such as the Terra Expo (1 February, 3 May, 9 August, 8 November 2026) are also linked to real animal suffering: exotic animals are confined to tiny plastic boxes, without any place to retreat, under stress, fear and pain. Many die prematurely from improper keeping.

90% of reptiles carry dangerous salmonella, a particular danger to children. Animal shelters are overcrowded with abandoned exotic animals that could never be kept in a species-appropriate manner.

Animals are not merchandise! We demand a ban on such markets that violate animal welfare.

Nature needs protection, not gunfire

Hobby hunters destroy what they claim to protect:

They create an ecological imbalance,
endanger biodiversity and public safety,
and poison their own environment with their ammunition.

Year after year, over 130’000 healthy wild animals are killed in Switzerland, not out of necessity, but out of a lust for killing.

Hobby hunting is not nature conservation.
Hobby hunting is a hobby.
Hobby hunting is violence.

A model: Geneva, wildlife protection without hobby hunters

The canton of Geneva shows that there is another way, with professional game wardens, education, peaceful coexistence between humans and animals, and without bloody hunting rituals.

Our demand:

An end to the complicity between the Umwelt Arena and militant hobby hunters.
An end to the hypocrisy of “closeness to nature” through killing.
A ban on hobby hunting and angling as a sport.
A ban on animal market events.

The future belongs to compassion, ethics and genuine respect for life. Not to violence. Not to cruelty to animals. Not to hobby hunting.

Natural disaster: hobby hunters

In the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of “care and management” by hobby hunters, the proportion of threatened species is greater in no other country in the world than in Switzerland. 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). More than a third of plants, wild animals and fungal species are considered threatened. Switzerland is likewise the laggard across Europe when it comes to designating protected areas for biodiversity. It is precisely these same circles of hobby hunters who, through their lobbying, must be held responsible for this via politics, the media and legislation for decades. They are the ones who notoriously block contemporary, ethical animal welfare improvements and sabotage serious animal and species protection. Hobby hunters regularly oppose more national parks in Switzerland, because for them it is precisely not about nature, biodiversity and species protection or animal welfare, but about indulging their perverse, bloody hobby.

Did you know …

that in Switzerland innocent young wolves are liquidated?
that hobby hunters lie about 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 hunting ethics of hobby hunters diametrically contradict the Animal Welfare Act and are a mirage?
that hunting is war, where animal competitors are simply liquidated?
that there are countless illegal and unmarked high seats in our natural environment, some of them so rotten that they pose a danger to children, and people can die as a result?
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 completely healthy roe deer, red deer, foxes, marmots and chamois are killed each year, mostly pointlessly?
that because of hobby hunters it is now barely possible to live in harmony with wild animals, to see wild animals?
that loads of shot make hares cry out like little children and tear apart the entrails of “shot” roe deer and red deer, so that as they flee they leave traces for the follow-up search?
that the hobby hunters' claim that the cruel wild animal massacres are necessary to regulate animal populations has been scientifically refuted?
that hobby hunters openly admit that hunting is about the “thrill of killing” and “the joy of taking prey” — a pathological passion?
that hobby hunters have no sixth sense and yet regularly claim that 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 all species and hunting protection 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 practise 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 in order 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 probably the central idea of conservation and care as well as hunting planning?
that among wild boars (and foxes) normally only the lead sow has young, but because of her being shot all the female animals within the sounder reproduce, and that this is also why we have a glut of wild boars?
that grazing animals – red deer, roe deer, etc. – originally lived mainly active by day 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 preys with incredible precision on sick or weak animals and is thereby far superior to hobby hunters?
that foxes mostly end up in the rubbish after the senseless hunt?
that foxes today are hunted mainly so that there are more hares, etc. in the frying pan for the hobby hunters? But that the fox feeds for over 90% not on hares, and never catches a healthy hare?
that one cannot tackle hobby hunters in animal welfare with gentleness alone, street festivals, prayer chains, etc. (a rough wedge belongs on a rough block)?
that hobby hunters, with their hunters' jargon, engage in a disrespectful mockery of living beings?
that it is frowned upon to shoot big game at the feeding station or during the mating season, yet the hobby hunter has no scruples about doing exactly that to their prey competitor, the fox?
that in some cantons hobby hunters go hunting solely for the tender flesh of a young animal?
that hobby hunters shoot pregnant mother cows 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, barbarity, cruelty, bloodshed and senseless torment cannot be cultural assets in a civilised society?
that hobby hunters shoot around 10’000 roe deer fawns every year?
that hobby hunters, in the harsh winter, lure starving animals with food only to be able to shoot them in a deceitful and cowardly manner?
that hobby hunters drive aggressive dogs into burrows to eliminate foxes and badgers (earth hunting)?
that hobby hunters lure peaceful living beings into box traps, in which they may have to suffer for days awaiting their killer, or that they often subject the animals to a struggle for survival lasting hours (trap hunting)?
that hobby hunters cowardly assassinate or injure peaceful wild animals while they sleep or bask in the sun, shooting from ambush with state-of-the-art precision weapons?
that hobby hunters support awards, fur markets, prize ceremonies 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 cruelty to animals?
that hobby hunters only seriously 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 hobby hunters (apart from vivisection) inflict the most agony and abuse on animals, also through the manner of killing?
that the 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 in its entirety, and culminates in turning it into prey through the act of killing?
that hobby hunters positively encourage browsing damage through hunting pressure, in particular on predators such as fox, lynx and wolf?
that hobby hunters, for asocial, unethical and the door wide open to unchristian behaviour?
that hobby hunters deprive the public of normal, natural wildlife observations and interactions?
that there is no greater product of suffering, contaminated with ammunition, than game meat?
that there is no uniform regulation across Switzerland regarding eye 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 educational institutions to talk children into accepting their hunters' tall tales and their violence?
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?

Further information:

Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach