Template text: night-time ban on robotic lawnmowers

The canton of (………) is to ban the operation of robotic lawnmowers at dusk and at night, so that hedgehogs and other nocturnal small animals no longer fall victim to their blades. The models are the night-time driving bans in German cities such as Cologne and a pending motion in the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt.

1. Motion

The Executive Council is instructed to submit to the Grand Council within one year a bill amending the Act on Nature and Landscape Protection (………), or to enact the necessary provisions at ordinance level, ensuring that:

robotic lawnmowers may not be operated anywhere in the canton from 30 minutes before sunset until 30 minutes after sunrise, on private as well as public land;
the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is expressly listed as a protected species in cantonal nature conservation legislation, where this is not yet the case, so that municipalities can also adopt more far-reaching protective provisions;
violations of the prohibited hours can be punished with a fine;
cantonal bodies do not use robotic lawnmowers on their land during the prohibited hours and require inspection walks before brush cutters, strimmers and motor scythes are used;
retailers of robotic lawnmowers inform buyers about the prohibited hours and the danger to hedgehogs;
the canton, in cooperation with hedgehog rescue centres and veterinarians, records reported cutting injuries to hedgehogs and other small animals and publishes the results annually.

In the bill, the Executive Council sets out the financial and staffing implications and ensures that the public is widely informed.

2. Brief rationale

Hedgehogs are active at dusk and at night, and are out in gardens precisely when many robotic lawnmowers are running. When in danger they do not reliably flee, but freeze or roll into a ball. In collision tests with 18 models, none detected the smallest juveniles under 200 grams, and larger animals were only detected after physical contact (Rasmussen et al. 2021, Animals). The Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research analysed 370 cases of cut injuries in hedgehogs; 47 per cent of the animals did not survive (Robotic lawnmowers kill hedgehogs: German cities ban night-time operation, Bern and St. Gallen wave it away).

The hedgehog is on the Red List in Switzerland and is Animal of the Year 2026. Hedgehog rescue centres report severed limbs and severe lacerations every autumn. Many injured animals withdraw and die undiscovered.

In Germany, Cologne, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Mainz and other cities have banned night-time operation, usually from 30 minutes before sunset to 30 minutes after sunrise. In Switzerland, corresponding proposals failed in Bern and St. Gallen. The St. Gallen city council justified this by saying that the canton had not expressly protected the hedgehog in its nature conservation ordinance. The second point of the motion closes this gap. In Basel-Stadt, a proposal for a curfew is pending before the Grand Council, based on the cantonal Nature and Landscape Protection Act (Robotic lawnmowers: Motion calls for night-time ban in Basel-Stadt).

The measure is simple and proportionate. It costs garden owners nothing but a timer, since the lawn can just as well be mown during the day. A night-time ban does not eliminate the risk entirely, because young hedgehogs are also active during the day in autumn. But it removes the most dangerous period from the machines' operating hours.

Anyone who lets their robotic mower run at night is not only mowing the lawn, but also the hedgehogs foraging on it.

3. Version for municipal parliaments

The municipal council is instructed to amend the police regulations (………) so that robotic mowers may not be operated within the municipal territory from 30 minutes before sunset to 30 minutes after sunrise. The municipality will refrain from using robotic mowers on its own land during this period and will inform the public about the danger to hedgehogs.

Note: Whether a municipality can issue such a ban depends on cantonal law. If there is no cantonal basis, as the St. Gallen city council argued, the cantonal motion above is additionally recommended.

Further background: Robotic lawnmowers kill hedgehogs: German cities ban night-time operation, Bern and St. Gallen wave it away, Leaf blowers drive hedgehogs from their homes and Template text: Animal-welfare-compliant fencing and electric netting requirements.