RUEK Lucerne embarrasses itself with its own figures: petition to protect the red fox rejected on professionally untenable grounds
The Spatial Planning, Environment and Energy Commission (RUEK) of the Lucerne Cantonal Council, chaired by Michael Kurmann, recommends that the plenary "take note" of Pascal Wolf's petition for the protection of the red fox without serious examination. The report of April 23, 2025 is factually untenable, scientifically unsupported, and ignores both the canton's own data and the will of the people as expressed by Swiss voters in the referendum on the Hunting Act of September 27, 2020.
98 percent of the foxes shot in Lucerne were perfectly healthy
The Canton of Lucerne is the only canton in Switzerland that maintains statistics on diseases in foxes. In the 2018/19 hunting year, 2,217 foxes were shot. According to the canton's own survey, only 39 of these animals were sick — that is 1.76 percent. Nearly 98 percent of the foxes killed by Lucerne hobby hunters were healthy and were disposed of at taxpayers' expense.
When the RUEK writes that hobby hunting of foxes serves to "contain diseases and parasites dangerous to humans and pets," it contradicts its own cantonal statistics. IG Wild beim Wild demands an explanation: Did the RUEK not know this figure, or did it deliberately conceal it?
Even hobby hunters call fox hunting pointless
Criticism of fox hunting no longer comes only from animal welfare organizations. It comes from wildlife biology and even from within the ranks of hobby hunters themselves.
In November 2025, the Tages-Anzeiger reported on Franz Balmer, a hobby hunter in the Canton of Zurich for 13 years. When his own hunting association defended fox hunting, Balmer wrote an angry letter to the association's editorial team with the key sentence: "We are doing more harm to the reputation of hunting than good." In the same article, wildlife biologist Sandra Gloor weighed in: shooting an individual fox from a family group has "absolutely no effect." Swiss hunting training, she said, mostly conveys only formal rules instead of current findings on fox biology.
Robert Brunold, president of the Graubünden hobby hunters, has also publicly admitted: "Low-ground hunting is not necessary." He himself compares the killing of healthy wild animals to picking mushrooms. When a hunting association president, a long-time hobby hunter, and a wildlife biologist jointly declare that fox hunting is pointless, the RUEK cannot claim the opposite without making itself ridiculous.
Luxembourg, Geneva, Ticino: the RUEK ignores entire realities
The report claims that, apart from the city canton of Geneva, foxes are "hunted throughout Switzerland." This abbreviated portrayal disregards key comparative cases:
- In 2015, Luxembourg completely banned hobby hunting of foxes. Since then, the rate of fox tapeworm infestation has dropped from around 40 percent to under 10 percent. The fox population has remained stable.
- In the canton of Geneva, hobby hunting has not been practiced since 1974. Three full-time game warden positions are sufficient for the entire wildlife management, with annual costs of around one million francs — that is, one cup of coffee per inhabitant.
- In the canton of Ticino, hobby hunting of foxes plays only a marginal role.
- In Great Britain, classic fox hunting with hounds has been banned since 2005.
The alleged "substantial additional costs" of placing the fox under protection have not materialized in any of these comparative cases.
The RUEK ignores the will of the people
On September 27, 2020, Swiss voters rejected the revised Hunting Act with 51.9 percent. The result was a clear signal: the public wants more protection for wild animals such as the wolf, beaver, and ibex — not less. It wants more scientific rigor in wildlife policy, not less. It wants less leeway for hobby hunting, not more.
The RUEK ignores this popular will and continues the reflex of the hobby-hunting lobby. A petition that calls for scientific review is dismissed with unscientific claims. The petitioner is not even given a hearing. The only body consulted is the BUWD — precisely the administration that has been clinging to the status quo of fox hunting for decades.
The Animal Welfare Act is ignored
Swiss animal welfare law requires a "reasonable justification" for every killing of an animal. With a disease rate of 1.76 percent in Lucerne's own statistics, this reasonable justification is lacking. Hobby hunting of foxes in Lucerne is not disease control, but the systematic killing of healthy wildlife for recreational pleasure. The German Legal Society for Animal Welfare Law has stated in a detailed opinion that, under current conditions, fox hunting regularly lacks a reasonable justification.
Demands of IG Wild beim Wild
- The Lucerne Cantonal Council rejects the RUEK report and demands a serious, open-ended review of the petition with a hearing of the petitioner.
- The commission consults independent wildlife biology experts such as Sandra Gloor, and not only the BUWD.
- Lucerne's disease statistics are evaluated and published transparently.
- The administrative costs of hobby hunting in Lucerne are fully disclosed, including lease administration, hunting supervision, and conflict resolution.
- The Canton of Lucerne examines the introduction of professional wildlife management following the Geneva model.
About IG Wild beim Wild
IG Wild beim Wild is a non-profit animal rights organization. It is dedicated to protecting wildlife from hobby hunting and advocates for an ethical understanding of wildlife and hunting based on the model of the Canton of Geneva.
Contact: info@wildbeimwild.com
Background articles on the topic: https://wildbeimwild.com/luzern-und-der-rotfuchs-wenn-politik-fakten-ignoriert/
Sources: