Switzerland is still hunting – but why?

The hunting season for gun enthusiasts in Switzerland lasts from April 1st to March 31st of the following year in most cantons.

Around 100 mammal species live in Switzerland. They are divided into insectivores, bats, rodents, hares, predators, and ungulates.

While most Swiss people only ever see wild animals while hiking or on a wildlife camera, an astonishingly large number of militant amateur hunters still venture into the forests and mountains every year.

Their grim conclusion: 65,811 ungulates – roe deer, red deer, and chamois – were shot in the 2023/24 hunting season. In addition, more than 1,200 protected ibex were killed during the high-altitude hunt . But that's only part of the story. During the so-called lowland hunt, which renowned biologists consider completely pointless and primarily targets predators, another 23,565 animals were killed. Almost 20,000 of these were red foxes . Wolves and lynxes are not listed in the newly published statistics .

A pointless fox hunt?

Few animals divide recreational hunters and animal and nature conservationists as much as the fox. For some, it's a "matter requiring management," for others a symbol of outdated hunting traditions. Scientifically, the matter has long been clear: more than 18 studies prove that fox hunting does not regulate populations or protect against disease. On the contrary, decimation can destroy social structures within fox populations and even exacerbate disease dynamics.

Nevertheless, tens of thousands of animals are shot every year – a contradiction to the animal welfare law, which only permits interventions with "reasonable cause". Such a cause simply does not exist here, argues the IG Wild beim Wild (IG Wild with Wild).

Endangered species in the crosshairs

Even more absurd is the hobby hunting of species that have long been considered endangered. The European hare, for example, is on the Red List, and its populations have plummeted since the 1950s. Nevertheless, almost 1,400 European hares were killed last hunting season – despite protective regulations in several cantons.

The rock ptarmigan is also potentially endangered and officially protected. Nevertheless, 282 birds fell victim to the guns of violent offenders. This highlights the inconsistencies in Swiss hunting law.

Geneva: A different model

The canton of Geneva has taken a completely different approach. In 1974, the population abolished recreational hunting by popular vote. Since then, around a dozen game wardens have been managing the populations. They only intervene when absolutely necessary.

The result: 286 wild boars, 36 roe deer, and 19 red deer were killed last year – significantly fewer than in cantons with a strong hunting tradition. Foxes, badgers, hares, etc.? Zero. The difference is striking: While Geneva manages with one million francs annually for wildlife management and damage caused by wildlife – the equivalent of a cup of coffee per inhabitant – the similarly sized canton of Schaffhausen registers almost 2,000 kills of ungulates alone, as well as hundreds of predators killed. Since Geneva has an international airport, birds are shot as part of public safety measures. In addition, there are also officially authorized culls of birds for railway purposes and a few for farmers.

And the damage? It hardly differs. On the contrary: During the hunting season, many animals from the surrounding cantons and France seek refuge in Geneva – living proof that wild animals avoid hunting areas.

Sanitary and therapeutic culls carried out by the approximately 12 game wardens in the canton of Geneva are not the same as regulatory hunting based on hunters' tall tales or misunderstood nature experiences of hobby hunters.

Before the ban on recreational hunting in Geneva, over 400 hunting licenses were sold annually. Three full-time positions are now needed for wildlife management and prevention, resulting in a significant and scientifically proven benefit to biodiversity. Typical Swiss values such as safety, animal welfare, and ethics are paramount in Geneva. The Canton of Geneva spends approximately one million Swiss francs annually on wildlife management, including compensation for wildlife damage. In comparison, fishing would incur considerably higher costs, despite the sale of licenses.

Between barbarity and science

Recreational hunting in Switzerland is at a crossroads. Scientific studies are increasingly revealing its contradictions and inefficiency. Even the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), through its wildlife agency Wildtier Schweiz, states that hunting statistics only allow for limited conclusions about the state of wildlife populations.

Given the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of unscientific management and care by hobby hunters, it is not surprising that more and more stakeholders are complaining.

This leaves a picture of two realities: On the one hand, cantons where tens of thousands of animals die every year in the name of "decimation." On the other hand, Geneva, which has proven for half a century that modern, animal welfare-oriented wildlife management is possible – and works.

The question arises: How much longer does Switzerland intend to cling to a system that is neither scientifically sound nor ethically justifiable?

Recreational hunting has not only no cultural and virtually no economic significance, but also serious ecological consequences. Anyone who loves nature should be aware that every disturbance – even seemingly minor ones – has a direct impact on animal life, biodiversity, and the environment. What you love, you don't kill. Balanced hunting management, like that practiced in the Canton of Geneva, is therefore crucial for preserving biodiversity and natural tranquility in our forests.

• Hunters spread diseases: Study
• Scientific literature: Studies on the red fox
• Hunting promotes diseases: Study
• Luxembourg extends fox hunting ban: Article
• A ban on senseless fox hunting is long overdue: Article
• Small game hunting and wildlife diseases: Article
• Deterring wild animals: Article

More information can be found in the dossier: Psychology of Hunting

Natural disaster, hobby hunter

In the chaos that nature finds itself in after decades of being managed and cared for by hobby hunters , the proportion of threatened species is higher in Switzerland than in any other country in the world. 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 plant, wildlife , and fungal species are considered threatened. Switzerland also ranks last in Europe when it comes to designating protected areas for biodiversity. It is precisely these circles of hobby hunters, with their lobbying efforts, who have been responsible for this situation for decades through politics, media, and legislation. They are the ones who notoriously block modern, ethical improvements in animal welfare and sabotage serious animal and species conservation. Hobby hunters regularly oppose the creation of more national parks in Switzerland because their concern is not nature, biodiversity, species conservation, or animal welfare , but rather the pursuit of their perverse, bloody hobby.

Did you know …

• that innocent young wolves are being liquidated in Switzerland?
• that hobby hunters lie when assessing the quality of game meat , and that processed game meat is carcinogenic according to the WHO, like cigarettes, asbestos, or arsenic?
• That, according to the study, nowhere is the lead contamination of golden eagles and bearded vultures higher than in the Swiss Alps, due to the ammunition used by hobby hunters?
• Is the idea that the ethical hunting practices of hobby hunters are diametrically opposed to animal welfare laws and are a mirage?
• Is hunting considered war , where one simply eliminates animal competitors?
• Did you know that there are countless illegal and unmarked hunting blinds in our natural environment, some of which are so dilapidated that they pose a danger to children and can even lead to fatalities?
• that countless people are killed or injured by hunting weapons every year, sometimes so severely that they end up in wheelchairs or have limbs amputated?
• Did you know that in Switzerland around 120,000 perfectly healthy deer, foxes, marmots and chamois are killed every year, mostly senselessly?
• Is it really so difficult today to live in harmony with wild animals and to see wild animals because of hobby hunters?
• that shotgun loads make hares scream like small children and shatter the entrails of “shot” deer and stags so that they leave traces for tracking as they flee?
• that the claim of hobby hunters, that the gruesome massacres of wild animals are necessary to regulate animal populations, has been scientifically refuted?
• that hobby hunters openly admit that hunting is about the “lust for killing” and “the joy of making prey” – a pathological passion?
• That hobby hunters don't have a sixth sense and yet regularly claim that they only shoot sick and weak animals, which of course isn't 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 travel agencies for such idiotic hunting pleasures?
• that the vast majority are not legitimate professional hunters, but pursue hunting as a hobby, sport and leisure activity, which is immoral and actually contradicts the animal protection law?
• That 99.07% of civilized people in Switzerland are not hobby hunters, meaning that only 0.3% of hobby hunters enjoy these bloody activities?
• That these wildlife killers do not hunt based on scientific justifications?
• that protected species should not actually be subject to hunting law, because hobby hunters are overwhelmed by species protection and repeatedly shoot animals on the Red List, such as lynx, wolf, hare, partridge, quail, etc., for fun?
• that hobby hunters deliberately decimate certain animal species to eliminate competition for their unnatural behavior (fox, lynx, wolf, birds of prey, etc.)?
• that the game dies before the hobby hunter can even fire a single shot, that this must be prevented, and that this is probably the central idea of conservation and management as well as hunting planning?
• that with wild boars (and foxes) normally only the lead sow has young, but because she is shot, all female animals within the sounder reproduce, and that is also why we have a wild boar glut?
• that grazing animals – deer, roe deer, etc. – originally lived mainly during the day in fields and meadows, like goats, sheep, cows, etc., and not in the forest?
• that the wolf is vital for the long-term health of wild ungulates because, for example, it hunts sick or weak animals with incredible precision and is therefore far superior to hobby hunters?
• that foxes usually end up in the trash after the pointless hunt?
• Did you know that foxes are mainly hunted today so that there are more hares, etc., for hobby hunters to put in the frying pan? But that foxes don't actually feed on hares over 90% of the time, and never catch a healthy hare?
• that one cannot simply deal with hobby hunters in animal welfare with gentleness, street festivals, prayer beads, etc. (a rough block requires a rough wedge)?
• that hobby hunters, with their tall tales, engage in a disrespectful mockery of living beings?
• Is it true that it is frowned upon to shoot big game at feeding time or during the mating season, but the hobby hunter has no qualms about doing so with the fox, a competitor for prey?
• that in some cantons, hobby hunters only go hunting for the tender meat of a young animal?
• that hobby hunters shoot pregnant cows in front of their calves or only calves during the rearing period ( post-special hunt )?
• that hobby hunters are poisoning the environment, nature, people and animals with their ammunition?
• that bestiality, barbarity, cruelty, bloodshed and senseless suffering cannot be a cultural asset in a civilized society?
• Did you know that hobby hunters shoot around 10,000 fawns every year?
• That hobby hunters lure starving animals with food in the harsh winter, only to be able to shoot them treacherously and cowardly?
• that hobby hunters send trained dogs into caves to eliminate foxes and badgers (burrow hunting)?
• that hobby hunters lure peaceful creatures into box traps, in which they may suffer for days waiting for their killer, or often subject the animals to a death struggle lasting for hours (trapping)?
• That hobby hunters cowardly ambush or injure peaceful wild animals while they are sleeping or sunbathing, using state-of-the-art precision weapons?
• that hobby hunters support awards, fur markets, prize ceremonies for trophy worship, trophy shows, fur trade, etc.?
• That hobby hunters put firearms in the hands of underage schoolchildren and practice killing with them?
• that hobby hunters often carry out their cruel acts in solitude, which promotes animal cruelty?
• that hobby hunters often severely injure many wild animals, and the victims often suffer for hours in enormous agony and fear until a bloodhound finds them and they are shot?
• that hobby hunters (apart from vivisection) inflict the most suffering and abuse on animals, also through the way they kill them?
• that the hunter's love of animals and nature does not take pleasure in the existence of the beloved object, but rather aims to possess the beloved being body and soul, and culminates in making it prey through the act of killing?
• that hobby hunters actually promote browsing damage through hunting pressure, especially on predators such as foxes, lynxes and wolves?
• that hobby hunters open the floodgates to antisocial, unethical, and unchristian behavior ?
• that hobby hunters deprive the public of normal, natural wildlife observations and interactions?
• That there is no greater product of cruelty and contaminated with ammunition than game meat?
• that there is no uniform regulation across Switzerland regarding eye tests, shooting practice, etc. for hobby hunters?
• that there is no psychological temperament test for amateur hunters?
• that there is no alcohol ban for hobby hunters when they shoot animals with their weapons?
• that hobby hunters infiltrate school facilities to impose their hunting tales and violence on the children?
• that a court in Bellinzona recently confirmed that hunting associations 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 cultured person in our society should strive for.
• Did you know that in the canton of Graubünden alone, over 1,000 charges and fines are issued against hobby hunters every year?