Vienna: Petition calls for abolition of fox hunting

Tierschutz Austria supports the initiative of nature photographer Leopold Kanzler. The matter will be addressed by the Vienna Petitions Committee on 17 January 2022.

The hobby hunting of foxes causes needless animal suffering. The award-winning Floridsdorf nature photographer Leopold Kanzler wants to put an end to this suffering and launched a petition to abolish hobby hunting of foxes in Vienna. Tierschutz Austria is now supporting the initiative. On 17 January 2022, the issue will be discussed in the Vienna Petitions Committee.

The shooting of a fox family in Vienna Strebersdorf in the summer of 2021 caused public outrage: «Born on 15 March 2021 at the Marchfeldkanal in Vienna. Died together with its mother on 22 June 2021, senselessly shot by a hobby hunter on Vienna city territory,» wrote Leopold Kanzler.

The 500 signatures required were quickly collected — not least with the support of Tierschutz Austria — and far exceeded.

A relic from a long-bygone era

Hobby hunting of the fox is a relic from a long-bygone era and is still practised in some Vienna municipal hunting areas by recreational hunters, supposedly to «optimise small game tallies». Each year, between 150 and 200 foxes are shot or caught in traps and subsequently killed in Vienna.

In many parts of the capital, however, hobby hunting is suspended: the Prater, Donauinsel, Zentralfriedhof, Lobau, Lainzer Tiergarten, Augarten, Schönbrunn and all other large parks are proof that population regulation of foxes is not necessary. There, foxes live free from any hunting pressure, and there is neither an overpopulation nor have any animal epidemics broken out.

The fox as a health officer in the ecosystem

The fox plays an indispensable role in the ecosystem as a “health police officer,” eliminating weak and sick animals and thereby playing an important part in natural selection. In addition, it feeds primarily on mice and rats, preventing overpopulation of these rodents.

Rabies eradicated in Austria since 2008

The significance of the fox as a carrier of animal diseases is overestimated. According to the WHO, rabies has been considered eradicated in Austria since 2008. The myth that infections with fox tapeworm occur mainly through forest berries contaminated with fox feces persists to this day, even though this has not been proven in a single case. Across all of Europe, around 200 people contract fox tapeworm each year. Statistically, the risk of becoming infected is roughly equivalent to the probability of being struck by lightning.

Fox hunting banned in other countries

In cantons of Switzerland as well as throughout Luxembourg hobby hunting of foxes is completely banned. Since then, neither has the fox population grown, nor have wildlife diseases increased. At the same time, between 2014 and 2020, the percentage of animals infected with fox tapeworm was halved.

The argument that hobby hunting of foxes helps threatened animal species is also inaccurate, as studies show. There is no scientific evidence, according to Luxembourg’s Environment Minister Carole Dieschbourg, that the ban on fox hunting is responsible for the decline of certain bird species.

In the Swiss canton of Geneva, biodiversity has even increased, particularly among waterfowl. Foxes have also not been hunted for decades in the Bavarian Forest National Park. The result: they produce fewer offspring there than in neighboring districts.

“Hobby hunting of foxes causes nothing but senseless animal suffering and must be rejected on ethical grounds,” states Tierschutz Austria President Madeleine Petrovic, reaffirming her solidarity with the petition.