Anti-Hunting Songs
These songs give wild animals a voice that is often missing in the public debate about recreational hunting.
- ▶“The Night Belongs to the Hedgehog”
- ▶«For whom the sky burns»
- ▶"Why are you hunting me"
- ▶“The Quota”
- ▶“Moderate the Tone”
- ▶“Safari”
- ▶“My Country, No Hunting Ground”
- ▶“Shot and Wounded”
- ▶“Free in December”
- ▶“Farm Report”
- ▶“High on the Ridge”
- ▶“Green Graduation”
- ▶“The Bill”
- ▶“The Trap”
- ▶“Heel”
- ▶“Ban Broken”
Music that moves. It connects, raises awareness and carries issues to places where arguments often no longer reach. That's exactly why we make our anti-hunting songs freely available, without copyright and without restrictions.
Each of these songs gives wild animals a voice that is too often missing in the debate about recreational hunting.
You can download them, share them, spread them further or use them yourself, whether in lessons, on social media, at campaigns, or simply to listen to.
Tip: Turn your favourite song into a ringtone for your phone. That way, you carry the message for wild animals with you in everyday life and get people talking.
Our message is clear: wild animals don't need bullets, they need protection. And every voice counts, including yours.
Join in, spread the songs and help us strengthen a new narrative about how we treat wild animals.
Note for iPhone and iPad: Press and hold the song title and select "Save to Files". On Android and desktop, the download works with a normal click.
Each category is also available further below as an album to download.
Hunting Methods and Equipment
The concrete practice of recreational hunting: driving, trapping, bait, technology.
It depicts how wild animals are flushed out, chased and driven in front of the guns during driven hunts, and what this form of hunting means for the animals.
It tells the story from the perspective of a sow with her piglets, chased by dogs during a driven hunt.
It tells of the deliberate luring of wild animals to salt licks, to the very spot where the shot awaits.
It tells of the roe deer fawn lying in the grass in its spotted camouflage coat in May, just as the hunt for the roebuck begins.
It names the consequences of bow hunting for the animal that is hit.
It tells of the golden eagle, poisoned by lead from the remains of killed animals, and of the traces that lead-based ammunition leaves behind in nature.
Using the example of raccoons and wild boars in Germany, it exposes the fallacy that more kills reduce populations, even though hunting pressure leads to more offspring.
It tells of the sow who moves about with her piglets under the cover of night, until thermal imaging and night vision technology take away this last refuge.
It shows how the stone marten is hunted as an alleged "cable biter" and poultry thief, even though structural solutions such as marten guards would help instead of the shot.
«The Iron»
It tells of banned leg-hold traps that are still being found, and of the permitted box trap, in which animals wait for hours to be killed.
It tells, from the perspective of a wounded animal, of missed shots and follow-up searches, and of hunting jargon that turns blood into "sweat" and injury into "sick".
«Heel»
It tells, from the perspective of a hunting dog, of one that lives in a kennel, is trained on live animals, and risks its hide for recreational hunting.
It is about the cruel earth-dog training facilities in which hunting dogs are trained on live foxes for earth hunting.
Psychology and Traditions of Recreational Hunters
The perpetrator's perspective, rituals, and the passing down from generation to generation.
«Confession from the High Seat»
It looks behind the facade of "fair chase" and tradition on the high seat.
«Whoever Pulls the Trigger Once»
It asks about the threshold that is crossed with the first shot.
«Sworn»
It is about the silence among recreational hunters, who settle botched kills and incidents in the forest among themselves.
«Heirloom»
It questions how hunting weapons and hunting tradition are passed down from generation to generation as an heirloom.
It tells of the recreational hunter who comes into the classroom with a fox pelt and a picture book, and asks what children learn about animals from this.
It lets an indigenous voice recount how hunting was once done out of necessity and with restraint, contrasting this with today’s recreational hunting.
It is the promise not to pass the tradition of killing on to the next generation.
It contrasts plant-based food straight from the field with game meat, which carries fear, stress and lead within it.
It tells of the black grouse, which is on the Red List and yet is still shot so that its sickle-shaped tail feathers can adorn a hat.
It tells of St. Hubert's Mass, in which the Church blesses recreational hunters and their weapons, and recalls that, according to legend, Saint Hubert gave up hunting.
It tells, from the perspective of the killed animal, about the trophy photo for which recreational hunters pose with their prey, and asks why what is deemed custom here would cost any police officer their honour.
«Safari»
It is about trophy hunting abroad, where recreational hunters pay to kill lions or elephants and pass it off as species conservation.
Lobby, Myths and Embellishment
The mechanisms, myths and language behind recreational hunting.
It takes apart the «hunter's tales», the myths with which recreational hunting justifies its actions.
It dismantles the myth of «wildlife management», which ultimately ends in the kill.
It names the entanglements between hunting associations, authorities and politics.
It shows how the cormorant, raccoon, stone marten or crow are made into scapegoats, while river engineering, global warming and pesticides remain the real causes.
«An Old Promise Echoes in the Forest»
It shows what follows when the fox is shot: more mice, more ticks, and more Lyme disease for people.
It tells the story from the sheep's perspective of an alpine summer without a fence, shepherd or livestock guardian dog, and of how the wolf is blamed for losses that are actually due to a lack of herd protection.
«Game Ready-Made for the Kill»
It is about pheasants and other animals that are bred and released only to be shot later, a life as merchandise for recreational hunting.
It poses the uncomfortable question of oversight and responsibility in hunting affairs, namely who actually controls those who, in the name of wildlife management, decide over the life and death of wild animals.
It questions the authority with which the lives of wild animals in the forest are decided.
It exposes killing as a leisure pursuit disguised as necessity.
«Removal»
It exposes the authorities' euphemistic language, which turns the kill into a harmless «removal».
It questions how the killing of wild animals is sold as a natural «product from the forest».
It exposes the romanticised view of nature with which recreational hunting elevates its forest into a sanctuary.
It is about the 300-franc fine for a she-wolf shot in Valais, and about how Swiss justice turns poaching into a trifle.
It takes aim at media that report on recreational hunting without asking questions, and pass on PR statements unchecked.
«The Bill»
It asks what recreational hunting costs the general public, from protective forests and wildlife damage to oversight, and why no one ever presents this bill openly.
It mocks crash courses that lead to a hunting licence, and thus to a weapon, within two weeks, without anyone ever having had to set foot in the forest.
It tells of authorities who, instead of answering well-documented questions about recreational hunting, advise those asking to moderate their tone.
Regions and Politics
Concrete settings and hunting policy in Switzerland and beyond.
It is a reminder that a life without recreational hunting is possible, as has been the case in the canton of Geneva for more than fifty years.
It tells of the wolf that returned to Valais after a hundred years, and of the Valais kill policy that wants to get rid of it again.
It tells of Luxembourg, where fox hunting has been banned since 2015 without anything collapsing there.
It tells of ducks, geese and other waterfowl from the far north that winter on Swiss lakes and are hunted even in protected areas.
«Bounty»
It is about the Ticino bounty of 500 francs for every wolf killed, and about what kill bounties do to our dealings with wild animals.
It is about politicians who twist figures until they fit the demand, and about wolf kills carried out in reserve, even before any damage has occurred.
It tells the story of the wildlife sanctuaries, whose protection is being eroded piece by piece, until even the wolf may be killed there.
It tells of the high hunt and the special hunt in Grisons, of the kill quota that must be met, of botched kills for 150 francs, and of what is forbidden in September and planned for December.
People in the Line of Fire
Accidents, guns in the house, and the forest that should belong to everyone.
It tells of horses, dogs and people who were mistaken for game and shot during recreational hunting, and of how such shots are no coincidence.
«What Begins at the High Seat»
It tells of hikers, mushroom pickers and children across Europe who are mistaken for game and shot during recreational hunts.
It tells the story from a woman's perspective of the hunting weapon that stands unsecured in the flat and acts as a silent threat, without ever being raised.
It takes aim at the fact that there is a blood alcohol limit for drivers, but in most cantons none for armed recreational hunters.
It asks why drivers and pilots must undergo regular checks, while anyone who owns a hunting weapon never has to after a one-off examination.
It is about the forest that belongs to everyone, where during recreational hunting it is walkers, bikers and dog owners who are expected to adapt, rather than the armed hunters.
It tells of people who document in the forest what happens during recreational hunting, and who are threatened and attacked for it.
Loss, Death and Silence
Mourning for the killed animal and the emptiness that remains.
It is about the silence that remains once the shot has faded away in the forest.
«Red Snow»
It tells of the pregnant vixen who is foraging for food in winter and is shot from a high seat using night vision technology.
It tells of a house cat that never comes home again because a recreational hunter shot it too far from the house.
It tells of the bear that was shot in 1904 as the last of its kind in Switzerland, and of its successors who are now returning from Trentino.
It tells of the polecat, which is on the Red List and whose habitat along streams and in wet meadows is disappearing.
It tells of the capercaillie, hunted during its courtship display, whose habitat has nearly vanished due to recreational hunting and forestry.
It tells of the brown hare, which has become rare in Switzerland within a few decades because hedges and open fields are missing.
It takes aim at the ritual surrounding killed animals, who have a twig placed in their mouths as a «last bite» to the sound of a horn signal.
It is a quiet song for the wounded animals that are never found and never appear in any kill statistics.
It tells of the least weasel, the smallest predator, which hunts mice and receives hardly any attention.
It tells of crows, jays and ravens, clever birds that use tools and are nevertheless hunted as pests.
Wild animals and their families
Songs that put individual species and their social lives at the centre.
It tells of the urban fox who roams the streets, backyards and walls at night while people sleep.
It is about the black grouse in the sensitive raised-bog habitat, where hunting and disturbance weigh especially heavily.
It tells of the killing of the strongest red deer stag as a trophy, and of the genetic loss left behind for the forest when the best of the population ends up hanging on the wall.
It tells the story of the red deer, which bellows during the rut in September and is shot for its antlers at precisely that time.
It tells of the badger, who has lived with his family in the same sett for generations and is hunted by recreational hunters as a pest, even though the damage he causes is usually exaggerated.
It tells of the wild rabbit, which has become rare in Switzerland yet is still hunted in the Lake Geneva region.
It tells of the wolf family that hunts, howls and raises its pups together, and of how kills tear this structure apart.
It tells of the family group of wild boars that is torn apart by hunting.
It tells of the marmot, which lives in a family group, protects its clan with its warning whistle, and is hunted for fat and pseudo-medicine.
It tells of the Valais lynxes, which became 80 in the political debate, even though a University of Bern study counted only 37, and which the canton still wants to shoot.
It tells the story from the perspective of four wolf pups whose mother was shot in Valais as a supposed «lone wolf», and warns against killings during the whelping season.
It tells the story from the perspective of a roe deer fawn that was rescued from the mower in spring and targeted by recreational hunting in autumn.
It tells, from the perspective of a red deer calf, about the Grisons special hunt, which releases in late autumn what would still be fined as a mis-kill during the high hunt in September.
It tells of the ibex, which was exterminated in Switzerland and painstakingly brought back, and which recreational hunters now want to target again as a trophy.
«The night belongs to the hedgehog»
It tells the story of the hedgehog that goes out at night in autumn to find reserves for hibernation and encounters the robotic lawnmower, which glides quietly through the garden and only notices it when it touches it.
Habitat and Seasons
Migration, winter coats, and the threatened habitat of wild animals.
It tells of the stoat, which changes its coat from brown to white in winter and lives in hedges, walls and meadows.
It tells of the rock ptarmigan, which despite being on the Red List and under climate pressure is still hunted in autumn.
It tells of the lynx, which returned to Switzerland in the 1970s, raises its young for ten months, and today is once again in the crosshairs.
It tells of the wildcat, which is returning to the Jura and can be mistaken by recreational hunters for a house cat.
It tells the story of the otter, which disappeared from Switzerland in the 20th century and is now returning to its rivers.
It honours what wild animals such as the beaver create for the habitat, rather than seeing them as a nuisance.
It tells the story of the chamois, which moves confidently along narrow rocky ledges and is hunted by recreational hunters for its beard hair and horns.
It tells of wild animals thrown into panic by the bangs of fireworks on 1 August and New Year's Eve, from the fawn in the summer grass to the roe deer in the winter snow, and calls for the sky to be kept dark.
Hope, Protection and Return
The counter-vision: peace, protection, and the return of wild animals.
It is about the right of wild animals to return to their ancestral habitats.
«Return»
It tells the story of the ibex, which was wiped out in Switzerland, reintroduced from the Gran Paradiso starting in 1911, and is now hunted once again.
It is an appeal to lay down the weapons and grant wild animals peace.
It demands the right to prohibit recreational hunting on one's own property for reasons of conscience, and encourages people to stand up politically for this.