Ticino annuls shooting permit for wolf

The Ticino cantonal government has revoked its shooting permit for a wolf in connection with the killing of 19 sheep in the Rovana Valley, following new findings.

It was not a single wolf, but a pack.

The incident had occurred on 26 April in Piedipodi-Cerentino TI. As the Ticino government announced on 10 June 2022, investigations by the national centre for predator ecology and wildlife management (Kora) revealed that the sheep were not killed by a single animal, but by a female wolf (F93) and a male wolf (M149).

False premises

These two animals belong to the Onsernone pack, which had previously been assumed to range in an area further south of the Rovana Valley. The pack repeatedly crosses national borders.

The shooting permit had thus been based on false premises and therefore had to be suspended in accordance with national legislation, the statement said. The cantonal authorities were in contact with the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) to determine the next steps.

Search unsuccessful so far

The so-far unsuccessful search operation by cantonal wildlife wardens would be suspended pending a decision by the FOEN. At the same time, staff from the cantonal Office for Hunting and Fishing would continue to monitor the situation in the Rovana Valley. The specific aim was to determine whether the pack had also produced offspring in 2022.

The 19 sheep that fell victim to the wolf on 26 April were classified as “not protectable” due to the difficult topography of the area and could therefore be counted towards the kill quota.

Sheep placed in front of government building

At the end of April, farmers from the Maggiatal district had laid several dead sheep in front of the government building in Bellinzona. They were reacting to a sheep kill in Cerentino and demanded more effective measures from the government in the fight against the wolf.

Enough is enough, said Armando Donati, president of the Ticino chapter of the association for a territory free of large predators, speaking at the time to the online portal tio.ch. The regulations protecting the wolf were out of touch with reality. The authorities must now listen to livestock owners. “The number of wolves keeps increasing, while the number of farms is steadily declining. If we continue like this, there will be no more farmers willing to look after mountain agriculture,” Donati made clear.

As early as the end of March, several sheep had been killed in the Rovana Valley. In mid-April, a wolf killed 13 animals in southern Ticino near Novazzano.

Dossier: The wolf in Switzerland: facts, politics, and the limits of hunting