St. Gallen: Recreational hunter shoots at beehive
The shutters on the east side of a small beehouse have been pierced by gunshots. The incident occurred near popular walking paths. Commotion in the southern part of the tranquil Lörwald forest, not far from the border between the municipalities of Jonschwil and Uzwil. Between 21 and 29 December, a beehive housing Carnica bees at the edge of the forest was fired upon,
The shutters on the east side of a small beehouse have been pierced by gunshots. The incident occurred near popular walking paths.
Gunshots in the Lörwald near Jonschwil
Commotion in the southern part of the tranquil Lörwald forest, not far from the border between the municipalities of Jonschwil and Uzwil. Between 21 and 29 December, a beehive housing Carnica bees at the edge of the forest was fired upon, as the St. Gallen cantonal police confirmed in response to an enquiry from the «Wiler Zeitung». The projectiles found on site by police pierced, among other things, the shutters on the east side of the beehouse.
Recreational hunter on a fox hunt identified as the culprit
The case is particularly sensitive because popular walking paths and trails used by dog owners are located in the immediate vicinity of the beehouse. Over the long New Year’s Eve weekend, the case has now been resolved — amicably. As it turned out, the shots accidentally and unintentionally struck the beehouse. The shooter was a recreational hunter who was in the process of fox hunting, according to the Wiler Zeitung.
Such incidents highlight the dangers of recreational hunting for people and animals alike. The fact that the scientifically entirely pointless practice of fox hunting also endangers uninvolved bystanders makes the problem particularly clear.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. 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.
