Criticism of the Mörel-Filet fur and pelt market
How such events combine tradition, commerce and animal suffering.
Criticism of fur, pelt and trophy events in Switzerland, exemplified by the traditional Upper Valais fur and pelt market in Mörel-Filet (VS) on 28 February 2026.
Wild animals are not goods for entertainment, prestige and commerce.
The IG Wild beim Wild most sharply criticises fur, pelt and trophy events in Switzerland Such events present killed wild animals year after year as trophies, decorative objects and merchandise. This normalises a way of dealing with wild animals that is no longer in keeping with the times and that clearly contradicts society's expectations regarding animal ethics and respect for fellow creatures.
The organisers sell these events as the cultivation of tradition and as a contribution to so-called game management. In reality, the focus is on killed wild animals whose body parts are measured, graded, awarded prizes or traded as merchandise. This practice promotes an outdated trophy culture in which it is not the animal as a sentient individual that counts, but rather the hunting performance and the size of antlers, horns or other «symbols of success».
What is particularly objectionable is that such events additionally serve as a marketplace for the trade in pelts. Fox pelts and other hides are bought up, assessed, in some cases awarded prizes or raffled off. This trade ignores the suffering behind each individual pelt and contributes to viewing wild animals as a raw material. While politics and society are taking steps towards restricting the fur trade, Switzerland continues to celebrate a commercialised form of hobby hunting that is ethically barely defensible.
Such markets are not folklore, but part of a system that assigns value to animal bodies. When pelts are traded at unit prices, animal suffering becomes a matter of calculation. It is precisely this logic that is incompatible with a modern understanding of wildlife protection .
IG Wild beim Wild further points out that the hunting practice portrayed often conveys an embellished picture. In reality, missed shots, injured animals and long ordeals of suffering are part of the everyday reality of hobby hunting. These aspects are neither addressed at such events nor openly communicated by those responsible. The claim that trophy shows serve to analyse the condition of wildlife populations is hardly tenable. Scientifically grounded monitoring instruments require no displayed skulls and antlers, which primarily serve for self-promotion. Trophies are a material expression of killed wild animals, whose kill quality, follow-up search and suffering scarcely feature in the official picture.
From the perspective of animal welfare, 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 trivialises violence and propagates a romanticised hunting world.
Arms dealers, optics manufacturers, hunting accessories, hunting trips, raffles of hunting kills abroad: a hunting-industrial system of violence is emerging, in which kills and animal bodies are part of a marketing system.
Those who kill senselessly protect nothing, and it is of no use to civilised society. Hobby hunters thus do not ensure healthy or natural wildlife populations, particularly not with their abhorrent fox hunting. Such events regularly raise questions about ethical aspects, permit practices and public impact, and they should finally be fundamentally reviewed both politically and socially.
The IG Wild beim Wild calls on those responsible in municipalities, towns and cantons to fundamentally rethink such events. A civilised society does not need competitions in which dead wild animals are presented as achievements, and it does not need a market on which pelts are traded like any other commodity. What is needed instead is a respectful understanding of wild animals, a professionally sound wildlife ecology and a turning away from hobby hunting.