Monitoring of predators costs 1.1 million per year
Monitoring predators in Switzerland costs around 1.1 million francs per year. The costs are borne by the federal government and the cantons.
The federal government invests 1.1 million francs annually in the monitoring of predators.
The wolf alone accounts for around half of this budget.
This emerges from a published response by the Federal Council to a query by National Councillor Martin Candinas (Centre/GR). The remaining predators — lynx, bear and golden jackal — share the rest of the sum.
The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) relies on two organisations for monitoring these wild animals: the Kora Foundation (carnivore ecology and wildlife management), which is supported by the cantons, and the Laboratoire de Biologie de la Conservation at the University of Lausanne. Both organisations are scientific institutions. The FOEN meets with them at least four times a year to discuss their mandate.
The cantons also incur additional expenses. Some cantons, such as Grisons and Valais, record the time expenditure associated with the wolf (monitoring, surveillance, assessment and culling) and forward these figures to the FOEN. These amounts vary between 50’000 and 200’000 francs, depending on the year and the number of culls.
A report intended to illustrate the impact of the spread of wild animals in Switzerland on agricultural land use in mountain regions is expected by the end of 2022.
