IG Wild beim Wild criticizes fur market Thusis 2026

How such occasions combine tradition, commerce, and animal suffering.

Criticism of fur, hide and trophy events in Switzerland, using the traditional fur market in Thusis (GR) on March 14, 2026 as an example.

Wild animals are not commodities for entertainment, prestige, and commerce.

The IG Wild beim Wild (Association for the Protection of Wild Animals) strongly criticizes fur, hide, and trophy events in Switzerland . Year after year, these events present killed wild animals as trophies, decorative objects, and commodities. This normalizes a treatment of wild animals that is outdated and clearly contradicts societal expectations regarding animal ethics and respect for fellow creatures.

The organizers present these events as a celebration of tradition and a contribution to wildlife management. In reality, the focus is on killed wild animals, whose body parts are measured, graded, awarded prizes, or traded as commodities. This practice promotes an outdated trophy culture in which the animal as a sentient individual is not valued, but rather the hunting performance and the size of antlers, horns, or other "signs of success."

What is particularly disturbing is that such events also serve as a marketplace for the fur trade. Fox pelts and other hides are bought, appraised, sometimes awarded prizes or raffled off. This trade ignores the suffering behind every single pelt and contributes to viewing wild animals as mere raw materials. Whilepoliticians and society are taking steps to restrict the fur trade, Switzerland continues to celebrate a commercialized form of recreational hunting that is hardly ethically justifiable.

Such markets are not folklore, but part of a system that commodifies animal carcasses. When hides are traded at unit prices, animal suffering becomes a calculated factor. This logic is incompatible with a modern understanding of wildlife conservation .

The IG Wild beim Wild (Interest Group for Wildlife) also points out that the hunting practices presented often paint a sanitized picture. In reality, misfires, injured animals, and prolonged suffering are commonplace in recreational hunting. These aspects are neither addressed at such events nor openly communicated by those responsible. The claim that trophy shows serve to analyze the state of wildlife populations is hardly tenable. Scientifically sound monitoring tools do not require displayed skulls and antlers that primarily serve self-promotion. Trophies are a material representation of killed wild animals, the quality of the kill, the tracking, and the suffering of the animals are rarely mentioned in the official narrative.

From an animal welfare perspective, it is also concerning that children and young people are introduced to such events without being taught a respectful and contemporary approach to wild animals. Instead of imparting knowledge, the focus is on a spectacle that trivializes violence and promotes a romanticized world of hunting.

Arms dealers, optics manufacturers, hunting accessories, hunting trips, raffles for hunting opportunities abroad: A hunting-industrial system of violence is emerging, in which kills and animal carcasses are part of a marketing system.

Those who kill senselessly do not protect, and it benefits civilized society. Hobby hunters, therefore, do not contribute to healthy or natural wildlife populations, especially not with their abhorrent fox hunting. Such events regularly raise questions about ethical aspects, permitting practices, and public perception, and they finally need to be fundamentally reviewed from a political and social perspective.

The IG Wild beim Wild (Interest Group for Wildlife) calls on those responsible in municipalities, cities, and cantons to fundamentally rethink such events. A civilized society does not need competitions where dead wild animals are presented as victories, nor does it need a market where furs are traded like any other commodity. What is needed instead is a respectful understanding of wild animals, a scientifically sound wildlife ecology, and a move away from recreational hunting.