Sheep mortality in Switzerland: diseases rather than wolves

According to biologists, only a small number of sheep in Switzerland die of old age or wolf attacks. The majority perish at the farmer's premises, are slaughtered, or sold abroad.

Editorial Wild beim Wild — 9 January 2025

Neglected or sick sheep that perish have only been registered and reported since 2020.

40’000 sheep died in 2021. The number of deaths has increased every year; last year it was already 56’838 animals that died, even though the total number of animals in Switzerland has not increased. Animals that were slaughtered or exported were also excluded from the statistics.

Sheep Mortality Switzerland: Statistics 2020–2023

Disease, weather, and husbandry conditions

The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office attributes the rise in animal deaths to disease, weather conditions, and husbandry practices. Parasite infestations, epidemics, as well as extremely hot summers and harsh winters are said to be responsible for the high number of deaths.

The mortality rate among sheep is very high compared to other livestock. By way of comparison: in 2023, around 13% of the approximately 362’000 sheep in Switzerland perished. For cattle, the rate is only 3.5%. This points to a fundamental animal welfare problem in Swiss livestock farming.

Wolves cause only 2% of all sheep deaths

David Gerke of the group Wolf Schweiz also finds the high number of sheep deaths surprising: “Until now, we had assumed that around 20% of sheep losses were due to wolf kills,” says Gerke. That figure had been based on a 2011 study that, however, only looked at summer grazing — that is, the period when sheep spend time on alpine pastures in summer. Reliable data on deaths outside this period had previously been lacking.

“We can now see that wolves cause just under 2% of losses,” says Gerke. This illustrates how strongly politics overreacts to the wolf issue and manages a problem that is far smaller than assumed. These figures refute the hunting myth, according to which predators are the main cause of sheep losses. Gerke, who keeps sheep himself, believes that the high proportion of losses is attributable to parasites and diseases. “With sheep, there are relatively many stillbirths and weak animals that would need to be nursed back to health,” he told tagesanzeiger.ch.

Political overreaction instead of herd protection

The data show impressively: The insane wolf hunt solves no sheep problem. Instead of shooting wolves en masse, what is needed are better husbandry conditions, professional herd protection and an honest engagement with the true causes of sheep mortality.

Further articles