Podcast episode: Media scandal, lynx kill and hunting-free protected areas

A journalist coordinating criminal complaints against a hunting critic, illegal lynx kills on both sides of the border, and long-term data from hunting-free protected areas: this episode spans the arc from a media scandal to the question of who writes the rules of the game in wildlife policy.

The Feusi case: complaints as intimidation

At the centre is Dominik Feusi, deputy editor-in-chief of the «Nebelspalter», recreational hunter and designated NZZ federal-parliament correspondent. Alongside an allegation of plagiarism, he is implicated by a leaked e-mail exchange with hunting official Hanspeter Egli. In it, it is stated that the more complaints there are, the more likely the founder of the IG Wild beim Wild would «disappear from the scene». Feusi also recommended the same lawyer to JagdSchweiz, FDP councillor of states Thierry Burkhart. The strategy failed: the Ticino criminal court acquitted the IG Wild beim Wild on all counts. Judge Siro Quadri held that fact-based criticism of recreational hunting is a permissible expression of opinion in the public interest. Feusi's NZZ contract was terminated before he took up the position.

A similar pattern is emerging in Grisons, where the new president of the Grisons licence hunters, Benjamin Hefti, prefers to settle matters «behind the scenes». In trophy trade, Germany registered 679 imports of protected species in 2025 alone, including 60 giraffes and 28 lions, without a single rejected application. And while volunteers rescued over 6,400 roe deer fawns in 2025, federal statistics for the same period record over 10,000 fawns shot dead.

Lynx, wolf and cormorant under pressure

A shot lynx was found near Saint-Claude, with a recreational hunter considered a suspect. In Alsace, the beating to death of a young lynx resulted in a three-month suspended sentence, whereas in Switzerland the killing of three lynxes by a professional game warden cost only a four-figure fine. For cross-border populations, this disparity in protection is fatal, as shown by the lynx Juro, who migrated from the southern Black Forest across the Rhine into Switzerland. Regarding the wolf, the FOEN report states that 77 animals were killed, yet the number of packs is still rising. Nine EU states, meanwhile, want to lower the protection status of the cormorant, even though studies on natural waters show no significant damage to fish stocks.

What thrives without recreational hunting

Ten large European protected areas, covering a combined 2,587 square kilometres, show that wildlife populations regulate themselves stably without kill quotas, and predators return. The Swiss National Park has demonstrated this for over 110 years, and the canton of Geneva since 1974. The canton of Schwyz, by contrast, is opening wild boar hunting for the first time from autumn 2026, without any wildlife-biological justification. In the Thal bison project, the association is sticking to the plan for semi-wild freedom from 2027 despite opposition from two municipalities. And Bern shows with its city pigeons that a population of 10,000 can be reduced to 1,500 without killing a single animal.

Further background in the categories Crime & hunting and Wild animals.