End Fox Hunting

To justify the merciless persecution of one of our most fascinating predators (a member of the dog family), it is simply claimed that fox hunting under small game regulations in Switzerland is necessary, because fox populations would otherwise get out of hand.

According to the Animal Welfare Act (Art. 26 TSchG), a “reasonable cause” must exist for the killing of an animal. However, hobby hunting of hobby hunting of foxes and badgers is in most cases merely the satisfaction of a bloody hobby. Hobby hunting fails as population control.

Accordingly, every fox hunt constitutes a clear violation of the Animal Welfare Act, due to the absence of reasonable cause. For more than 30 years, there have been at least 18 wildlife biology studies that prove: fox hunting does not regulate populations and is also ineffective as a means of disease control. Quite the contrary!

We therefore call on Swiss politicians to ban the utterly pointless killing of these magnificent creatures as swiftly as possible. Luxembourg and the canton of Geneva have demonstrated that there are no valid arguments whatsoever for this slaughter.

Facts instead of hunters’ tales

Even without hunting, there would not suddenly be too many foxes, hares or birds. Experience shows that nature can be left to its own devices. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, small game hunting is unnecessary.

Heinrich Haller, former National Park Director of Graubünden and wildlife biologist

Fox populations are regulated through a complex social system. Foxes live in family groups, in which only the highest-ranking vixen produces offspring. However, when humans intervene in the fox population with traps and rifles, these family communities are destroyed. As a result, nearly all vixens become receptive to mating, and the number of cubs per litter increases sharply.

We have observed that fox mothers give birth to more young in areas where the animals are hunted. While a single kill can provide temporary relief locally, the vacant territories are quickly reoccupied. Nature regulates itself.

Wildlife warden Fabian Kern

A single fox is estimated to consume between 3’000 and 5’000 mice annually. If so many foxes were not killed, farmers would not need to apply as much poison in their fields to combat mouse infestations.

In Switzerland, however, hobby hunters shoot around 20’000 healthy foxes every year, only to discard them. Fox hunting is ecologically, economically, and epidemiologically pointless and must therefore be banned in the interest of humans, nature, and wildlife as well as from the perspective of ethics, morality, and animal welfare .

Demands

We demand the recognition of scientific studies and expert opinions that call into question the necessity of hunting. No dissemination of sectarian or debunked hobby hunter myths. The killing of animals as a leisure activity has no place in the 21st century and should also be subject to criminal prosecution.