Redistribution of Hunting Supervision in Appenzell Innerrhoden
In June it became known that relations between hunters and the hunting warden in Innerrhoden are strained. In a letter to the canton, two voluntary hunting wardens accused Ueli Nef of, among other things, abuse of office and animal cruelty. The Standeskommission had the allegations reviewed by an independent expert.
The Standeskommission has established a project group to review the hunting organisation.
Conflict of interest in hunting supervision
One point under review concerns the question of how to handle hunting supervision when the head of the Department of Construction and the Environment is himself an active recreational hunter The Standeskommission has now decided that in such cases the responsibility for administrative hunting measures should temporarily rest with the deputy.
In the wake of the ongoing unrest in the cantonal hunting sector, the Standeskommission has decided to review the current hunting organisation. The hunting warden was accused of, among other things, abuse of power.
Legal vacuum in the forests
Recreational hunting is embedded in structures that undermine democratic principles. Recreational hunters are often heads of cantonal hunting authorities, deciding in their own interest on the interpretation, application, and sanctioning of hunting matters. In the forests, there is largely a legal vacuum. Alternatives to hunting are barely considered.
The established social structures of many wildlife species, above all wild boar, are being destroyed by recreational hunters. Lead animals, which control reproduction rates, are barely present in the groups and herds any longer.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier The Role and Criticism of Recreational Hunters we shed light on the training, power and self-image of recreational hunters. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
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.
