Hobby hunting trips to Russia: Agency director under fire

Agency director on wolf hunt in Russia

The St. Gallen government responded on Thursday, 2 May 2024, to an urgent motion concerning a hunting excursion to Russia by an agency director.

During the session, two further motions on the same topic were submitted.

“Can a minimum level of political sensitivity be expected from St. Gallen agency directors?”, read the urgent motion submitted by the two Green Party cantonal councillors Thomas Schwager and Meinrad Gschwend.

The head of the Office for Hunting and Nonsense of the Canton of St. Gallen, Dominik Thiel, took part in a multi-day wolf hunt in Russia in February 2024, together with a game warden and during working hours. The stated justification was that he had wanted to study the lap hunt, a form of driven hunt. The two government representatives shot four wolves and reportedly also imported the trophies.

The Greens’ main point of criticism was the choice of destination. While the Ukrainian population had been “regulated” for two years, cantonal employees were spending working hours studying “Russian wolf management”, they wrote.

Criticism of the choice of Russia as destination

The decision in favor of Russia as a destination had been justified on professional grounds, the government stated in its response. Russia possesses “extensive experience in wolf management”.

Due to the Russian war of aggression, “in retrospect, no more working time would be granted for such privately organized training activities”. The participants had covered the costs of the trip, including the shooting premiums, themselves. For each wolf shot during the trophy hunt, the organisers charged 1’100 euros.

A mere adventure trip rather than professional development

In the council, Thomas Schwager said that a bitter aftertaste remained, suggesting that the responsible councillor Beat Tinner (FDP) still lacked genuine insight. It had been nothing more than a pure adventure trip.

The government must still answer further motions with questions regarding wolf hunting. The Greens want to know whether the lap hunt is even possible in Switzerland.

Despite 400 hours of effort, in the canton of St. Gallen only two animals out of a total of eight wolves were killed in two months of active wolf regulation.

Dossier on hunting administration St. Gallen:

• Dominik Thiel: Wolf hunter at taxpayers' expense – a department head as a security risk for wildlife protection
• Psychology of hunting in the canton of St. Gallen
• Hunting season until New Year's Eve: shooting pressure instead of wildlife management
• Patent hunting as a solution to red deer conflicts?
• Hunting administration St. Gallen: wolf management without science and without credibility
• The permit to shoot a wolf in the canton of St. Gallen was unlawful
• Public dumbing-down in the canton of St. Gallen
• Office for Hunting and Nonsense in St. Gallen modernises hunting education
• St. Gallen wants to regulate wolf pack at Gamserrugg
• Controversy surrounding a Swiss civil servant at the wolf hunt in Russia
• «Experts» in St. Gallen end wolf regulation for this winter
• The rotten apple in the St. Gallen hunting administration
• Lying hunter became department head in the canton of St. Gallen
• St. Gallen: Stop the fox and badger massacre
• Are FOEN and the hunting administrations still operating responsibly?
• How hobby hunter Simon Meier leads onto the wrong trail