Wolf shooting in St. Gallen was unlawful

The Office for Hunting and Nonsense and the judiciary in the canton of St. Gallen based their assessment of a culling order for a wolf on incomplete and inadequate documents.

This is shown by a ruling of the Federal Supreme Court.

Switzerland's highest court has upheld a complaint by Pro Natura against the shooting of the male wolf M111 or the female F35, approved by the St. Gallen authorities. The wolf pair has been active in the Schils and Weisstannental valleys since 2019. This emerges from a ruling published on Thursday.

In late summer 2023, one sheep each was killed on two separate days in the Schilstal valley. One of the attacks could be attributed to the female wolf F35 on the basis of DNA data. In a further attack on 11 November 2023, eight sheep were killed. The flock was protected by an electric fence.

Which wolves had killed the eight sheep could not be determined precisely on the basis of DNA traces or other evidence. The Office for Hunting and Nonsense of the canton of St. Gallen released the male or the female for shooting by an order dated 16 November 2023. The permit, limited to six weeks, expired in January 2024.

Shootings of wolves, which are classified as a strictly protected species under the Bern Convention, are only permissible if individual animals cause substantial damage and implemented protective measures have proved ineffective. These include the use of livestock guardian dogs or electric fences.

Shootings are only permitted once a wolf has killed at least six livestock within four months in its ranging territory, following prior damage caused by wolves.

If a canton wishes to shoot one or more animals from a pack, it must first obtain the consent of the Federal Office for the Environment. In the case of a lone wolf or an animal belonging to a pair, a canton may decide independently.

The Federal Office for the Environment also criticizes the circumstances

As the ruling of the Federal Supreme Court shows, the cantonal livestock protection officer recorded the killing of the eight sheep on November 11, 2023, on November 17, based on undated photographs of the fence. He conducted no on-site inspection, and it remained unclear whether the fence carried the required voltage and whether adequate livestock protection was in place. Only the game warden was actually present on the same day and confirmed the damage. However, as the Federal Supreme Court notes, his role did not include assessing livestock protection measures.

This circumstance is criticized not only by Pro Natura. The Federal Office for the Environment also considers the forms completed by the livestock protection officer to be incomplete and rudimentary, as emerges from the Federal Supreme Court ruling.

The St. Gallen Administrative Court, however, deemed these incomplete documents sufficient. It dismissed Pro Natura's appeal. According to the Federal Supreme Court, the lower court should also not have relied on the cantonal hunting authority's assessment of November 16, 2023.

That assessment had been based on the rudimentary documents provided by the livestock protection officer. A further irregularity is the fact that the hunting authority's document is dated November 16, while the livestock protection officer's document is dated November 17, 2023.

The Federal Supreme Court identifies additional inconsistencies and ambiguities in its ruling. It notes, for instance, that it remained unclear why the eight sheep could not have been killed by a wolf pack also sighted in the valley. The Administrative Court could have consulted earlier damage records relating to the wolf pack and the wolf pair, but failed to do so.

All in all, the Administrative Court had “obviously” established the facts in an incomplete manner, and various clarifications had been omitted without justification. The lower court had therefore not been entitled to confirm the shooting.

For Pro Natura the Federal Supreme Court’s decision sends a signal for the management of the wolf population across Switzerland, as stated in a press release issued on Wednesday. It reinforces the nationwide standard in livestock protection and makes clear that a wolf may only be shot following an objective, comprehensible assessment of the facts. (Ruling 2C_68/2024 of 30.6.2025)

Right of association to appeal 
The right of appeal for associations can only ensure that existing laws are upheld. An appeal allows a court to review particularly sensitive projects involving interventions in nature for their legality. The decision is always made by the court. If it dismisses an appeal, the associations must bear the procedural costs. The organizations designated by the Federal Council must give account annually of their careful use of the right of appeal. The right of appeal for associations has existed since 1967 and was comprehensively revised in 2007. In 2008, the Swiss people confirmed it with 66% of the votes in all cantons. Saved thanks to the right of appeal: the Aletsch area, Bolle di Magadino, vineyards in Lavaux, etc. More information: www.stimmedernatur.ch  

Dossier Game Management St. Gallen:

• Dominik Thiel: Wolf hunters at public 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
• Licence hunting as a solution to red deer conflicts?
• Game management 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 training
• St. Gallen wants to regulate wolf pack at Gamserrugg
• Controversy surrounding a Swisscivil servant at the wolf hunt in Russia
• «Experts» in St. Gallen end wolf regulation for this winter
• The rotten apple in the St. Gallen game management authority
• Lying hunter became department head in the canton of St. Gallen
• St. Gallen: Stop the fox and badger massacre
• Are FOEN and the game management authorities still operating responsibly?
• How hobby hunter Simon Meier leads people down the wrong track