Solothurn celebrates 15 new hobby hunters, the lowest cohort in a long time

At Waldegg Castle in Feldbrunnen, on 9 July 2026, 15 graduates of the Solothurn hunting course were ceremonially welcomed into the ranks of active hobby hunters.

Head of the Department of Economic Affairs Sibylle Jeker handed over the hunting proficiency certificates, while hunting administrator Silvia Nietlispach guided the event. The «Solothurner Zeitung» reported dutifully and without comment, in the tone of court reporting: «They sound the horn for the hunt».

What the report conceals, the figure itself reveals: 15 new hobby hunters make up the lowest cohort in years. By way of comparison: in 2020 there were 27 graduates, in 2021 there were 24, in 2022 there were 26, in 2024 there were 23, in 2025 there were 26. The current cohort breaks this trend by roughly half, without the cantonal communications so much as mentioning this decline.

The same template, year after year

As we already set out in our Psychology of hunting in Solothurn, this ritual at Waldegg Castle is no isolated case, but a recurring pattern: the authority praises the «responsible task», the young hunters line up with rifle and bullet gun for the group photo, and the local press adopts the text almost word for word. As far back as 2019, Sibylle Jeker's predecessor Brigit Wyss told the «Solothurner Zeitung» that the act of hunting was, for all those involved, a «profound experience of nature and a mindful interaction with living creatures». This rhetoric has not changed to this day, as our article Dumbing down of the public in the canton of Solothurn documents.

The conservation-work claim in the fact check

In Solothurn too, there is a requirement to complete at least 25 hours of so-called conservation work during the course, as proof of a supposed commitment to wild animals and their habitats. What this «conservation work» means in practice is shown most clearly in the case of the fox and badger: in the 2024 hunting season, 866 mostly healthy foxes and 269 badgers were killed in the canton of Solothurn, without any wildlife-biological or scientific basis, as we set out in Solothurn: Stop the fox and badger massacre. In Solothurn, the fox is pursued for eight months and the badger for over six months, a relentless persecution that has little to do with «mindful treatment».

Zug shows how it can be done differently

While Solothurn continues to uncritically spread PR texts on promoting new recruits, in May 2026 the canton of Zug presented a 25-page study by the wildlife researchers Dr Claudia Kistler and Dr Fabio Bontadina (SWILD), commissioned by the Office for Forests and Wildlife. The result: the practised fox hunting neither regulates populations sustainably nor improves disease control. Decades of kills averaging 308 animals per year remained ineffective, because losses are compensated by higher fertility, better survival rates and immigration. On 16 June 2026, the Zug hunting commission drew its first conclusions: no more proactive promotion of fox hunting, a cleaner separation of the statistical categories, and an information campaign on the feeding of wild animals, as we reported in Canton of Zug: authorities curb fox hunting following study. Solothurn, on the other hand, shows no ambition whatsoever to question its own practice scientifically, let alone to commission a comparable study.

Falling numbers, unchanging rhetoric

The decline in the number of Solothurn graduates in 2026 fits a Switzerland-wide picture: hobby hunting is losing new recruits, while the cantonal authorities continue to uncritically spread the same textual building blocks as success stories. Anyone who instead calls for professional, state-run wildlife management, as demanded by the «Game wardens instead of hunters» initiative in the canton of Zurich, is given no voice in such press releases.

The following passed the 2026 hunting examination:

• Affolter Denis, Lüterkofen
• Allemann Peter, Zuchwil
• Demel Lukas, Kestenholz
• Grossenbacher Marcel, Neuendorf
• Haas Sebastian, Günsberg
• Hallwyler Jonas, Olten
• Herrmann Kaspar, Uettligen
• Hess Stefan, Bettlach
• Khalil Al-Hassan, Grenchen
• Laub Michael, Siebnen
• Lawrenz Markus, Hochwald
• Löliger Basil, Brittnau
• Rüedi-Blaser Karin, Trimbach
• Schenker Jeff, Zofingen
• Weissbarth Lars, Winikon

Natural disaster hobby hunters

In the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of nurturing and care by the hobby hunters, the proportion of endangered species is greater in no other country in the world than in Switzerland. For decades, these contract killers have been creating an ecological imbalance in the cultivated landscape, with sometimes dramatic consequences (protective forests, diseases, agricultural damage and much more). Over a third of plants, wild animals and fungi species are considered endangered. Switzerland is also at the bottom of the European rankings when it comes to designating protected areas for biodiversity. And it is precisely these circles of hobby hunters, with their lobbying, who through politics, the media and legislation have been responsible for this for decades. They are the ones who notoriously block modern, ethical improvements to animal welfare and sabotage serious animal and species protection. Hobby hunters regularly oppose more national parks in Switzerland, because they are simply not concerned with nature, biodiversity and species protection or animal welfare, but with pursuing their perverse, bloody hobby.

Did you know …

• that in Switzerland innocent young wolves are liquidated?
• that hobby hunters lie when it comes to assessing game meat quality, and that processed game meat is, according to the WHO, carcinogenic like cigarettes, asbestos or arsenic?
• that according to a study, nowhere is the lead contamination of golden eagles and bearded vultures higher than in the Swiss Alps, because of hobby hunters' ammunition?
• that the code of hunting ethics of hobby hunters is diametrically opposed to the Animal Welfare Act, a mirage?
• that hunting is war, where animal competitors are simply liquidated?
• that there are countless illegal and unmarked high seats in our countryside, some of them so rotten that they pose a danger to children, and people can be killed?
• that year after year countless people are killed or injured by hunters' weapons, sometimes so severely that they end up in a wheelchair or have limbs amputated?
• that in Switzerland around 120,000 completely healthy roe deer, red deer, foxes, marmots and chamois are killed every year, mostly senselessly?
• that because of hobby hunters it is now barely possible to live in harmony with wild animals or to see wild animals at all?
• that shotgun loads make hares scream like little children and tear apart the innards of “shot” roe deer and red deer, so that as they flee they leave a trail for the follow-up search?
• that the hobby hunters' claim that the cruel wildlife massacres are necessary to regulate animal populations has been scientifically disproven?
• that hobby hunters openly admit that hunting is about the “lust for killing” and “the joy of making a kill” — a pathological passion?
• that hobby hunters have no sixth sense and yet regularly claim that they only shoot sick and weak animals, which of course is not true in practice?
• that hobby hunters travel abroad for trophy hunting, far from all species and hunting protection regulations, and that there are even Swiss hobby hunter tour operators for such moronic hunting pleasures?
• that the vast majority are not legitimate professional hunters, but pursue hunting as a hobby, sport and leisure pastime, which is not ethical and in fact contradicts the animal welfare act?
• that 99.07% of civilised people in Switzerland are not hobby hunters, meaning only 0.3% of hobby hunters take pleasure in these bloody activities?
• that these wildlife killers do not hunt on the basis of scientific justifications?
• that protected species should actually not fall under hunting law, because hobby hunters are overwhelmed by species conservation and repeatedly shoot animals on the Red List, such as lynx, wolf, brown hare, grey partridge, quail and so on, just for fun?
• that hobby hunters deliberately decimate certain animal species in order to have no competition for their unnatural behaviour (fox, lynx, wolf, birds of prey and so on)?
• that the game dies before the hobby hunter can even fire a single shot, that this is what must be prevented, and that this is surely the central idea behind conservation and care as well as hunting planning?
• that among wild boars (and foxes) normally only the lead sow bears young, but because she is shot all female animals within the sounder reproduce, which is another reason why we have a wild boar glut?
• that grazing animals – red deer, roe deer and so on – originally lived mainly during the day on fields and meadows, like goats, sheep, cows and so on, and not in the forest?
• that the wolf is vital to the long-term healthy state of wild ungulates, because it preys on sick or weak animals with incredible precision, for example, and is thereby vastly superior to hobby hunters?
• that foxes usually end up in the rubbish after the pointless hunt?
• that foxes today are hunted mainly so that there are more hares and so on for the hobby hunters' frying pan? But that the fox feeds on hares less than 10 % of the time, and never catches a healthy hare?
• that one cannot tackle hobby hunters in animal welfare with gentleness, street festivals, prayer chains and so on alone (a rough wedge is needed for a rough log)?
• that hobby hunters, with their hunter's jargon, carry on a disrespectful mockery of living creatures?
• that it is frowned upon to shoot big game at the feeding site or during the mating season, yet the hobby hunter has no scruples about doing exactly that to the fox, its prey competitor?
• that in some cantons hobby hunters go hunting merely for the tender meat of a young animal?
• that hobby hunters shoot pregnant mother cows in front of their young, or only young animals during the rearing period (post-special hunt)?
• that hobby hunters poison the environment, nature, humans and animals with their ammunition?
• that bestiality, barbarity, cruelty, bloodshed and senseless suffering cannot be part of the cultural heritage of a civilised society?
• that hobby hunters shoot around 10,000 roe deer fawns every year?
• that in the harsh winter hobby hunters lure starving animals with feed only to be able to shoot them treacherously and cowardly?
• that hobby hunters set trained dogs on dens to eliminate foxes and badgers (earth hunting)?
• that hobby hunters lure peaceful creatures into box traps, where they may have to suffer for days awaiting their killer, or often subject the animals to hours of a death struggle (trap hunting)?
• that hobby hunters cowardly slay or injure peaceful wild animals from ambush with state-of-the-art precision weapons while they sleep or bask in the sun?
• that hobby hunters support awards, fur markets, prize ceremonies for the trophy cult, trophy shows, the fur trade and so on?
• that hobby hunters put firearms into the hands of underage schoolchildren with firearms and practise killing with them?
• that hobby hunters often carry out their agonising deeds in solitude, which encourages animal cruelty?
• that hobby hunters only severely wound many wild animals and the victims often suffering for hours in enormous agony and fear until a tracking dog finds them and they are shot?
• that hobby hunters (apart from vivisection) inflict the most agony and abuse on animals, including through the manner of killing?
• that the hunter's love of animals and nature does not delight in the existence of the beloved object, but rather aims to possess the beloved creature entirely, culminating in turning it into prey through the act of killing?
• that hobby hunters positively encourage browsing damage through hunting pressure, particularly on predators such as fox, lynx and wolf?
• that hobby hunters open the door to antisocial, unethical and unchristian behaviour?
• that hobby hunters deprive the public of normal, natural wildlife observation and interaction?
• that there is no greater product of torment, contaminated with ammunition, than game meat?
• that there is no uniform regulation across Switzerland regarding eyesight tests, shooting practice, etc. for hobby hunters?
• that there is no psychological character test for hobby hunters?
• that there is no alcohol ban for hobby hunters when they shoot at animals with their weapons?
• that hobby hunters intrude into educational institutions to peddle their hunter's tales and their violence to children?
• that a court in Bellinzona recently confirmed that hunting clubs promote practically everything that is cruel, unnecessary and heartless?
• that the association «Jagd Schweiz» primarily cultivates disrespect and a culture of violence – exactly the opposite of what a cultivated person in our society should strive for.
• that in the canton of Grisons alone, over 1’000 charges and fines are imposed on hobby hunters every year?