Official expert report removes the basis for fox hunting

Every year in Switzerland around 19,000 red foxes are shot, justified on the grounds of population regulation, disease prevention and the protection of endangered species. An expert report commissioned by the canton of Zug has now examined these justifications scientifically for the first time. The result: fox hunting does not regulate populations, does not lower the risk of disease and does not prevent damage. The IG Wild beim Wild calls on the remaining cantons to draw the appropriate conclusions.

The report «Scientific foundations of fox hunting» was commissioned by the Office for Forest and Wildlife of the Directorate of the Interior of the canton of Zug and produced by the Zurich specialist agency SWILD (Urban Ecology, Wildlife Research, Communication). It was published in May 2026 and served the cantonal government as a basis for responding to a petition. It is the only cantonal commissioned report on fox hunting in Switzerland to date.

No regulatory effect despite high effort

The report states that the hunting practised today over larger areas has no regulating effect on fox populations. Foxes quickly compensate for losses: vixens reproduce earlier, have larger litters, young and adult animals survive better, and new animals migrate in from surrounding areas. The population is not regulated by hunting but by the availability of food and by disease. The figures from Zug confirm this: over the past 25 years, an average of well over 300 foxes per year were shot there, with a sharply declining trend, without the population having risen.

Predominantly healthy animals killed

How little hunting has to do with disease prevention is shown by the canton of Lucerne, the only one that systematically records the health status of shot foxes. Of 2,217 killed animals, only 39 showed signs of disease. More than 98 per cent of the foxes shot were healthy.

With the fox tapeworm, hunting is counterproductive

The finding is particularly clear in the case of the fox tapeworm. The report refers to a French study from the Nancy region (Comte et al. 2017), in which intensive hunting did not reduce the fox population, but the tapeworm prevalence in the hunted area rose from 44 to 55 per cent. The reason: the gaps torn open by hunting are filled by migrating young foxes, which carry a particularly high parasite load. The same pattern was seen with rabies, which was not defeated by hunting and den gassing, but by vaccine baits.

Luxembourg: infection rate has fallen markedly since the hunting ban

What the body of research suggests is confirmed by Luxembourg in a practical test. Our neighbouring country banned fox hunting entirely in 2015. Since then, the state veterinary laboratory has examined around a hundred foxes found dead each year. The infection rate with the fox tapeworm has not risen since then, but has fallen from around 40 to below 10 per cent. The responsible minister notes that the decline occurred «contrary to the fears of some stakeholders», and that nothing stands in the way of continuing the ban. The canton of Geneva has also managed without recreational hunting since 1974; over the last two years there was not a single regulatory kill of a fox there.

Damage minimal, protective measures more effective than kills

Protecting livestock does not justify hunting either. In the canton of Zug, a total of 67 cases of damage were reported between 2012 and 2025, amounting to around 28’000 francs in total, or roughly 2’000 francs per year. More than 93 per cent of the losses involved chickens. According to the report, whether a farm is affected does not depend on fox density, but on the protection of the stables and outdoor runs. Secured fences and lambs being born in the stable reliably prevent kills.

A Swiss canton has finally done what was long overdue: had fox hunting scientifically examined, instead of justifying it through habit. The result is unambiguous. When a measure works neither against diseases, nor for species conservation, nor against damage, it is not wildlife management but a ritual. We expect the other cantons to take note of these facts, says Carl Sonnthal of IG Wild beim Wild.

First consequences are already visible

The Zug findings have an effect beyond the cantonal border. The Zug hunting commission has decided no longer to actively promote fox hunting. The canton of Basel-Stadt is open to examining in greater depth whether to forgo regular fox hunting, and likewise draws on the Zug report. IG Wild beim Wild calls on all cantons to review fox hunting on the same scientific basis. No federal law obliges the cantons to hunt foxes; the scope for action lies with them.

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