Silent wolf extermination: Switzerland shoots wolf pups

At the end of July 2025, the canton of Graubünden submitted another request to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) for a mass cull of the wolf population. The aim: to be able to kill up to two-thirds of the confirmed young wolves in all packs with concrete evidence of current offspring, starting on September 1st.

Editorial Team Wild beim Wild — September 1, 2025

During peak and special hunting seasons, amateur hunters support the massacres. Those who "protect" the wolf in this way are not practicing management, but mass extermination in sheep's clothing.

Officially, it sounds harmless: "We need several years of experience and data on wolf management to obtain meaningful results on its effects," says hobby hunter Adrian Arquint , head of the Graubünden Office for Hunting and Nonsense, to SRF News on August 27, 2025 .

A textbook example of reassuring bureaucratic rhetoric. But a closer look reveals that it's nothing more than a diversionary tactic. At the same time, it obscures the fact that there are already studies showing that culling puppies is dangerous for population dynamics.

Because the science is clear. International studies have shown for years what happens when puppies are shot: the population collapses. The IWJ study (Griesberger et al. 2022) demonstrates that even an increase in puppy mortality from 50% to 76% is enough to reverse the population's growth. And population analyses warn that with around 40% puppy mortality and 30% among adults, stability is lost. Graubünden and Valais plan to kill 66% of the puppies – a figure that practically guarantees collapse. Combined with reduced reproduction, additional deaths of females, accidental shootings, and other factors, local extinction is even a threat.

Communication failure at the Office for Hunting and Fishing Graubünden

Nevertheless, Graubünden – together with Valais, Federal Councillor Albert Rösti, and the Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU) – is pursuing precisely this strategy. Those in charge know exactly what they are doing. That makes it even worse.

There's no question of "gaining experience." It's not about learning, but about enforcing the law. About implementing a policy that, against all better judgment, risks the destruction of a protected species. Or more precisely: factors it in.

The myth of a cautious approach may appeal to the public. In reality, it's a deception. The wolf population isn't being "regulated," it's being systematically thinned out—to the point where a stable population no longer exists. The fact that this violates international obligations such as the Bern Convention or the Biodiversity Strategy seems to be of secondary importance. The will of the majority of the population is also being disregarded.

So, in the end, only the bitter realization remains: what is happening here is not "wildlife management." It is a creeping extermination – disguised as a learning process, sold as caution, but in reality coldly planned.

Dossier: Wolf in Switzerland: Facts, politics and limits of hunting

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