Schwyz: Office for Hunting and Fisheries dissolved

The Schwyz cantonal government has approved a reorganisation of the Department of the Environment. The department now has only four offices instead of five.

The Office for Nature, Hunting and Fisheries (Anjf) is being dissolved. Accordingly, the position of office director, which had already been vacant for some time, will not be filled again, according to the canton's press release.

Conflict between hobby hunters and foresters

As a result, the topic of hunting will initially be placed directly under the authority of Department Secretary Xaver Heinzer. One reason for this is a simmering conflict between hobby hunters and foresters. The foresters are complaining about browsing damage, while the hobby hunters are reluctant to shoot any more female game.

The key point is that there will be a thematic reorganisation across the offices. The department will in future comprise just four offices: Environment and Energy, Forest and Nature, Water, and Geoinformation.

A welcome side effect of the reorganisation is that questions with the game wardens — regarding the new service regulations or on-call arrangements, for example — which should have been resolved eleven years ago, have now been settled. The eventual integration of hunting into the Office for Forest and Nature is also being considered, since wildlife belongs in the forest.

Pressure on wildlife is growing

The deer and roe deer populations in the canton of Schwyz are a recurring topic of debate. For agriculture and forestry, there are too many wild animals. Hobby hunters and game wardens are willing to intervene through hunting to regulate numbers, but take the view that forest and wildlife belong together and must be given their place. In recent months it has become clear that the pressure on wildlife and recreational hunting is growing ever greater. This year, three roe deer per hobby hunter (previously two) have been released for shooting. For red deer, the target is 450 (previously 425). What particularly rankles with many: of those 450 deer, 360 are to be female or young animals.

Only by shooting female animals can a population be effectively reduced, says Adrian Kälin from Freienbach. He is vice president of the Schwyz Cantonal Licensed Hunters' Association and a member of the hunting commission. He emphasizes that the hunting ordinance was developed with broad support and is revised each year. "Unfortunately, we see no willingness to compromise from the forestry side at all," he tells the "Höfner Volksblatt". Figures are often used that are not meaningful. Browsing damage is recorded on a few parcels known for high wildlife populations and then extrapolated to the entire canton.

Ethically questionable regulations

This means that rules which were previously considered unsportsmanlike are now officially sanctioned by regulation. Until now, a hobby hunter who shot a nursing deer cow was penalized with an erroneous-kill fee. Now he is supposed to shoot the calf first and then the cow.