No Charges for Shooting a Golden Jackal

A game warden in the Einsiedeln area shot a golden jackal.

The game warden from the canton of Schwyz was called out on 23 March 2016 to put down a weakened “fox.” After the act, the warden discovered that the animal was in fact a golden jackal. He reported this to the hunting authority, as the animal was a protected species. Because this was the first golden jackal recorded in the canton of Schwyz, the public was informed via a press release.

The IG Wild beim Wild viewed the matter differently and filed a criminal complaint on suspicion of violating the Animal Welfare Act and the Hunting Act. Under Art. 37 of the Federal Hunting Act (JSG), the environmental office is required to protect endangered animal species and ensure their conservation. An animal suffering from hunger is not a sick animal but a weakened one. After winter, many wild animals are in a weakened state. The game warden neglected the animal under Art. 26 of the Animal Welfare Act (TSchG) by failing to take it to a veterinarian or a wildlife rescue centre. The wildlife authority could also simply have let nature take its course or been required to provide first aid.

In our culture, we do not shoot people simply because they are weakened.

The game warden failed to properly identify the animal before shooting it, which constitutes a serious violation of the Federal Act on Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals and Birds as well as Art. 51 of the Wildlife Act (JWG). The golden jackal has the same protected status as the lynx, the wolf, or the bear. This game warden should not have been permitted to make a lethal intervention involving the protected golden jackal without authorisation.

The game warden of the Environmental Department wilfully killed a protected golden jackal that was in a situation of distress, thereby not only gravely violating its dignity.

Investigations Supported Welfare Cull

The golden jackal was sent to the Institute of Wildlife Pathology at the University of Bern for a more detailed examination. The findings revealed that the animal had no remaining fat reserves, severely damaged kidneys, and an insufficient heart. These changes indicated that the golden jackal would have had no chance of survival in the wild even without the intervention of the wildlife wardens.

Discontinuation of Criminal Proceedings

With the discontinuation order issued on 26 August 2016, and the decision not to appeal to a higher instance, the proceedings have now been closed. The charges against the wildlife warden were dropped in all counts. Both the wildlife warden and the hunting administration took the position that this was a mercy kill to relieve the animal of its suffering.

Wild beim Wild never received any written notification of a discontinuation order dated 26 August from the Schwyz public prosecutor's office, and was therefore unable to appeal the proceedings to a higher instance at all. We learned of these accomplished facts today, 21 October 2016, through an article on 20min.ch. Furthermore, we have no time for this kind of lethal management. Was the golden jackal sent to the wildlife pathology institute in Bern weeks later, after the criminal complaint had been filed and the animal was likely already half decomposed?