Petition: End animal cruelty in Spreitenbach
So-called hunting fairs are set to take place at the Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach — an event that sells the killing of animals as a leisure pursuit. We say: this is not culture. This is violence.
The Umwelt Arena sees itself as a place that conveys sustainable lifestyles, ecological responsibility and future-oriented solutions.
A fair that promotes hunting and trophy culture as attractive leisure activities conflicts with these guiding values. In our view, it is incompatible for an institution that stands for environmental education to present practices that can involve significant animal suffering.
Events such as the Terra Expo or angling fairs are also linked to real animal suffering: exotic animals are locked into tiny plastic boxes, with no way to retreat, under stress, fear and pain. Many die prematurely due to improper husbandry. Animals are not merchandise! At such fairs and markets, the welfare of the animals is not the priority — profit, accompanied by animal cruelty, is. We demand a ban on such fairs that violate animal welfare standards. Animal shelters and rescue centres are overcrowded with exotic animals, partly because of such fairs, as many keepers are overwhelmed.
Reptile keeping is particularly problematic in this regard. Based on a survey on reptile husbandry and extrapolations, the Swiss Animal Protection organisation STS concludes that more than 60,000 cases of reptile keeping across Switzerland can be classified as cruel to animals and therefore punishable by law. This figure is not a smokescreen but context: reptile keeping is not “a hobby like any other”, but an area with systemic shortcomings, where the legal minimum requirements are often not met.
We are convinced that the Umwelt Arena, as well as the municipality of Spreitenbach, have an important role-model function in matters of animal and nature protection. Rejecting such events would be a clear sign of a responsible, contemporary and ethically grounded stance.
We call on the Umwelt Arena and the municipality of Spreitenbach to:
- No stage for a culture of violence and animal cruelty!
- No more venues for hunting and animal trading events!
Join in and send a clear signal.
Call on the government to respect children's rights.
You can also independently email the petition text to politicians or a party of your choice.
Dear decision-makers
To the municipality of Spreitenbach and the Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach
Dear Sir or Madam,
we, the undersigned, hereby call upon you not to approve the planned hunting fair on 7–8 March 2026 at the Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach, and to refrain in future from permitting events that present hunting, trophy worship and animal suffering as a leisure pursuit.
However, the criticism is not directed solely at the hunting fair itself, but also at the Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach, which has repeatedly provided a platform for events that run counter to animal welfare. This also includes reptile fairs, where exotic animals are displayed in cramped plastic boxes and sold to unprepared buyers.
At such fairs and markets, the animals' wellbeing is not the priority – profiting from animal cruelty is.
Rationale:
The event markets recreational hunting as “culture” or “tradition”, even though it is incompatible with animal suffering and ethical responsibility.
There are hardly any scientifically justified reasons to hunt, for example, carrion crows, badgers, foxes, domestic cats or brown hares. They are not killed out of necessity, but for fun.
The fair stands symbolically for a culture of violence and killing that distorts the relationship between humans, animals and nature: instead of protection and respect, hunting is portrayed as entertainment.
The Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach has shown itself willing to host such hunting- and animal-market-related events.
Wildlife and nature conservation call for approaches such as education, voluntary work, monitoring or observation – not mass events that promote hunting and trophy worship.
The freedom of nature needs protected spaces, not a staging of recreational hunting. The municipality of Spreitenbach can take on a leading role here.
Our demands:
No hosting of the hunting fair at the Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach.
No future letting of premises for hunting or animal-market events that trivialise or glorify animal suffering.
A clear municipal signal that nature and animal welfare in Spreitenbach are not compatible with weapons or trophy worship.
By supporting this petition, you send a clear signal for ethics, respect and the protection of wild animals, and against their portrayal as objects of sport or consumption.
Thank you for your attention – we hope for your support.
Yours sincerely
Your signature
I also pick up the phone and tell those responsible personally what I think: “I find it unacceptable that a hunting fair takes place at Umwelt Arena that markets the killing of animals as a leisure pastime. Please stop hosting this event. Please stop renting out rooms for hunting events and animal markets such as the Terra Expo. Exotic animals do not belong in plastic boxes on sales tables, but in their natural habitat.”
Call the Spreitenbach municipal administration and Umwelt Arena and demand a clear decision against such events. Friendly in tone, unambiguous in substance.
Further information:
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Alternatives to recreational hunting we show political and practical alternatives to recreational hunting. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
All articles are written by IG Wild beim Wild as well as by external co-authors. Research, structuring and editorial processes may be supported by AI-assisted tools.
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