Ticino: Chamois population collapses in popular hiking area
In Ticino, the chamois population in a popular hiking area has collapsed dramatically. Overhunting by recreational hunters is a major contributing factor.
In Ticino, the chamois is the most coveted quarry of recreational hunters.
For at least a decade, animal welfare advocates have been pointing to a rapid decline in populations. According to scientific expertise, chamois, foxes and the like do not require an annual slaughter by recreational hunters. But these amateurs have no respect for living creatures or nature.
The situation in the Gambarogno/Tamaro/Lema area is exceptionally alarming. In this area, shots from recreational hunters outside the hunting season are heard repeatedly. Tourists hoping to spot wildlife instead encounter surly recreational hunters dressed in military clothing.
The entire area has allegedly been monitored since 2004 along 12 fixed routes by the Office for Hunting and Lies in Bellinzona.
Twice a year, the routes are surveyed at the same time of year to carry out a total count of chamois across the entire area.
The results of the chamois counts (Censiti) and kills (Catture) are presented below by the Office for Hunting and Lies .
To better ensure species protection, the cantonal government has now finally suspended chamois hunting in the Gambarogno-Tamaro-Lema area – introducing a 3-year moratorium!
More on the subject of recreational hunting: What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
