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Wildlife

Second young wolf born this year falls to its death

In Graubünden, above the Trinser Alp on the Piz Mirutta, yet another young wolf has fallen in steep, rocky terrain and succumbed to its injuries.

Editorial team Wild beim Wild · 12 October 2018

In Graubünden, above the Trinser Alp on the Piz Mirutta, yet another young wolf has fallen in steep, rocky terrain and succumbed to its injuries.

This is already the second six-month-old animal to fall and die this autumn.

The carcass of the young wolf was discovered by a private individual and immediately reported to the wildlife wardens. Based on the degree of decomposition, the animal had already been dead for several days. The young wolf fell in almost the same location as the first young wolf approximately two weeks earlier.

Did a flock of sheep trigger the tragedy?

Piz Mirutta
Piz Mirutta

A large flock of sheep is kept on the alp which, despite herd protection measures, may exert "a certain attraction" on the wolves, said Adrian Arquint, head of the Office for Hunting and Fishing. The terrain around the alp is very steep, and a rock band runs across the slope where the fall occurred.

An inexperienced young wolf could panic and fall while climbing upward in such terrain, said Arquint. Nevertheless, it is not an everyday occurrence for two animals to fall in such a short space of time.

It remains unclear whether either animal belongs to the Calandra pack. Genetic analyses are expected to provide clarity. Like the first, the second dead wolf will also be handed over to the pathological institute of the University of Bern. More on wildlife.

More on the subject of recreational hunting: In our dossiers on recreational hunting gather fact-checks, analyses and background reports. 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.

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