Template text: Public safety in hunting

Hunting in Switzerland takes place in a densely used area. Walkers, children, riders, cyclists, dog owners and residents share forests and fields with armed hobby hunters. The canton (………) should significantly improve public safety through clear minimum distances, exclusion zones and consistent mandatory reporting of hunting accidents and near-misses.

1. Motion

The government council is tasked with submitting to the Grand Council a proposal to amend the law on hunting and wildlife protection (………) as well as the hunting ordinance (…………) and if necessary other relevant regulations (including police law, ordinance on quiet zones, forest law). The goal is a significant increase in public safety in the context of hunting activities.

The revision of laws and ordinances must particularly ensure that:

• that binding minimum distances for shots in the direction of inhabited buildings, roads, hiking trails, playgrounds, school routes, sports and recreational facilities are established in the canton (………). These minimum distances must be designed so that:
  • shooting directions toward settlements, individual buildings, heavily frequented paths and publicly accessible areas are excluded
  • de facto exclusion zones for hunting apply within a defined radius around settlement areas.
• that general hunting-free zones or temporally restricted exclusion zones are created near schools, children's and youth facilities, heavily frequented recreational areas, popular hiking and cycling routes as well as along heavily frequented waterfront paths.
• that during the main hunting season and other hunting periods, warnings about hunting activities are provided in an appropriate form, particularly:
  • Early information to the public about dates and areas of larger drive hunts and group hunts
  • clearly visible daily and area signaling on site (including signs at parking lots, trail access points and forest entrances).
• that the canton introduces mandatory and comprehensive reporting obligations for all hunting accidents, gunfire causing personal injury, property damage, shooting of residential buildings, vehicles and infrastructure as well as for near-misses where people, pets or other animals were endangered in immediate proximity.
• that these reports are centrally recorded, statistically evaluated and published annually in a public report that contains at least the following information:
  • Number and type of accidents and near-misses
  • involved hunting methods (individual hunting, drive hunting, still hunting, etc.)
  • local focal points and typical risk situations.
• that in cases of severe or repeated safety violations, particularly:
  • firing shots in the direction of persons, buildings or pathways
  • failure to observe minimum distances and exclusion zones
  • hunting under the influence of alcohol or drugs
    mandatory hunting law consequences must be provided, up to temporary or permanent revocation of the hunting license.
• that the canton prescribes mandatory safety modules in hunting education and examination, which must include the following content:
  • safe behavior in heavily used recreational areas
  • handling unclear terrain situations
  • obligation to show consideration for the population, recreational users and other user groups.
• that close cooperation is established between hunting authorities, police, municipalities and emergency services to:
  • clarify reporting and response procedures for hunting accidents
  • jointly develop prevention measures
  • inform the population in a targeted manner.
• that the Government Council explains in its message:
  • how many hunting accidents and safety-related incidents became known in the canton in recent years
  • where, in its view, the greatest safety risks lie
  • how the proposed regulations will concretely contribute to increasing safety and
  • what organizational and financial consequences can be expected for the canton and municipalities.

The Government Council ensures that cantonal regulations are at least in accordance with federal law, but go beyond the minimum level in the area of safety and take into account the specific hazards of a densely used living space.

2. Brief justification

Switzerland is not an uninhabited hunting ground, but a densely populated country with high usage pressure on forests, fields and waterways. It is precisely in these spaces that armed recreational hunters are active during hunting season. Shots are fired in immediate proximity to hiking trails, hamlets, isolated farms, ski touring routes, bike trails and walking paths.

Cases repeatedly become known in which:

• Projectiles strike residential buildings or barns
• Walkers, riders, cyclists or dog owners are shot at dangerously close range
• Bullets cross roads or paths
• People and pets are injured or killed.

Many incidents are not recorded at all or only incompletely because there is no consistent reporting requirement and no transparent statistics. Those affected who experience such situations report fear, uncertainty and the feeling of no longer being safe in their own recreational area. Those traveling with children or dogs experience hunting season not as an idyll, but as a time of danger.

In addition, hunting in Switzerland is predominantly a recreational activity. These are not trained professionals, but persons with very different training, practice and aptitude, including many elderly people. Errors in distance estimation, bullet backstop assessment, evaluation of terrain, visibility and background have potentially fatal consequences in this area.

Against this background, from the perspective of modern safety and animal welfare policy, it is imperative to align regulations not with the needs of recreational hunting, but with the safety of the population:

• Clear minimum distances and exclusion zones are necessary to create spaces where people can move without fear of firearms.
• Comprehensive reporting requirements and transparent statistics are the prerequisite for capturing actual risk, recognizing dangerous patterns and effectively counteracting them.
• Strict consequences for safety violations are unavoidable if the state wants to credibly convey that protection of human life and physical integrity takes priority over hobby interests.

Hunting is often presented as a supposedly indispensable form of wildlife management. Those who invoke this claim must accept that the highest safety standards apply. It cannot be that in densely used Swiss living space, private individuals are moving around with lethal weapons without minimum distances, exclusion zones and consistent controls being introduced.

Those who have their finger on the trigger in the forest bear responsibility for the lives of others. Safety rules must not end at the border of the hunting jacket.

The proposed motion ensures that public safety is at the center and is no longer treated as a side issue of a historically evolved recreational practice. It creates clear rules, transparency and accountability in an area that has so far often been characterized by trivialization and lack of transparency.