Italian recreational hunters cross border: Police intervene

Last Saturday, the Graubünden cantonal police checked two Italian nationals in the Val di Cama.

Editorial Wild beim Wild — 23 October 2025

The men – aged 35 and 44 – had crossed the national border from the Italian Val Bodengo and were carrying rifles as well as additional hunting equipment.

The location of the incident was near the Bocchetta del Notar at around 2,100 metres above sea level.

The weapons and equipment were seized, and the two recreational hunters are being reported to the Graubünden public prosecutor's office. According to the authorities, such border checks are to be carried out regularly in the future as well.

Wildlife caught in the crossfire

This incident once again illustrates how problematic recreational hunting is. While wildlife knows no borders, it encounters a dense network of hunting regulations, protection provisions and illegal activities. On the Italian side of the Bodengo, different hunting laws apply than in the canton of Graubünden. The fact that recreational hunters exploit or deliberately disregard these differences is no isolated case.

Illegal hunting – or poaching – is no trivial offence. It threatens populations, disrupts sensitive ecosystems and undermines wildlife conservation efforts. People entering protected and border regions uncontrolled with loaded weapons not only endangers wildlife, but also increases the risk to hikers, mountaineers and local residents.

Hunting in the 21st century – a dying model

The hunting lobby often speaks of “stewardship” and “tradition”. Yet cases like this one show that recreational hunting has long since ceased to be a necessary means of obtaining food, and is in many cases a hobby with a questionable ethical foundation. Animals are pursued, stressed and killed – often merely for trophies or a few hours of “adventure”.

Recreational hunting is particularly problematic in border regions. In areas where wildlife needs refuges, animals face massive pressure. Instead of securing the last remaining retreats, these areas are being targeted even more intensively.

Der Hobby-Jäger im 21. Jahrhundert

An Appeal to Politics and Society

The recent arrests in Val di Cama are a warning sign: consistent controls and tough sanctions against illegal hunting are urgently needed. But even more important is the societal debate about recreational hunting itself. Do we really want to tolerate, in the 21st century, people roaming the mountains with rifles while biodiversity and species diversity hang in the balance?

Wildlife needs peace, protected spaces, and respect — not bullets. It is high time to critically question the privilege of recreational hunting and to promote sustainable alternatives that are in harmony with nature and animal protection.

This case should remind us all: anyone who claims that recreational hunting serves only to protect nature must explain why weapons are repeatedly confiscated, illegal border crossings stopped, and thousands of charges filed.

Natural Disaster: Recreational Hunters

In the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of stewardship by recreational hunters, the proportion of threatened species is higher in no other country in the world than in Switzerland. These hired killers have been creating an ecological imbalance in the cultural landscape for decades, with sometimes dramatic consequences (protective forests, disease, agricultural damage, and much more). More than a third of plant, wildlife, and fungal species are considered endangered. Switzerland also ranks last in Europe when it comes to designating protected areas for biodiversity. It is precisely these circles of recreational hunters, through their lobbying efforts in politics, media, and legislation, who have been responsible for this for decades. They are the ones who notoriously block timely, ethical improvements in animal welfare and sabotage serious animal and species protection. Recreational hunters regularly oppose more national parks in Switzerland because their concern is not nature, biodiversity, species protection, or animal welfare — but rather the pursuit of their perverse, bloody hobby.

Did you know …

that in Switzerland innocent young wolves are being killed?
that recreational hunters, when it comes to assessing venison quality lie and that processed game meat, according to the WHO, is carcinogenic like cigarettes, asbestos, or arsenic?
that according to a study, nowhere is the lead contamination of golden eagles and bearded vultures higher than in the Swiss Alps, due to the ammunition used by recreational hunters?
that the fair chase ethics of recreational hunters is diametrically opposed to animal protection law and is nothing but a mirage?
that hunting is war, where animal competitors are simply eliminated?
that there are countless illegal and unmarked elevated hunting blinds in our countryside, some so rotten that they pose a danger to children and can cause people to fall to their deaths?
that year after year, countless people are killed or injured by hunters' firearms, some so severely that they end up in wheelchairs or have limbs amputated?
that in Switzerland, approximately 120,000 perfectly healthy roe deer, red deer, foxes, marmots, and chamois are killed every year, mostly without purpose?
that because of recreational hunters, it is today barely possible to live in harmony with wildlife or to observe wild animals?
that shotgun blasts cause hares to shriek like small children and tear apart the entrails of “shot” roe deer and red deer so that they leave a trail of blood during their flight for hunters to track?
that the claims by recreational hunters that the cruel wildlife massacres are necessary to regulate animal populations have been scientifically refuted?
that recreational hunters openly admit that hunting is about the “pleasure of killing” and “the joy of making a kill,” a pathological obsession?
that recreational hunters have no sixth sense and yet regularly claim to shoot only sick and weak animals, which in practice is of course untrue?
that recreational hunters travel abroad for trophy hunting, far removed from any species protection or hunting regulations, and that there are even Swiss recreational hunter travel agencies catering to such depraved hunting pursuits?
that the overwhelming majority are not legitimate professional hunters but pursue hunting as a hobby, sport, and leisure activity, which is morally questionable and in fact contradicts animal protection law?
that 99.07% of civilised people in Switzerland are not recreational hunters, meaning only 0.3% of recreational hunters take pleasure in these bloody activities?
that these wildlife killers do not hunt on the basis of scientific justifications?
that protected species actually do not belong under hunting law, because recreational hunters are overwhelmed by species conservation and repeatedly shoot animals listed on the Red List, such as lynx, wolf, hare, partridge, quail, etc., for fun?
that recreational hunters deliberately decimate certain animal species in order to eliminate competition for their unnatural behavior (fox, lynx, wolf, birds of prey, etc.)?
that wildlife dies before the recreational hunter can even fire a single shot, that this must be prevented, and that this is likely the central idea behind wildlife management, care, and hunting planning?
that with wild boar (and foxes), normally only the lead sow gives birth to young, but due to their being shot, all female animals within the sounder reproduce, and that this is one of the reasons we have a wild boar population surge?
that grazing animals — deer, roe deer, etc. — originally lived mainly as diurnal animals in fields and meadows, like goats, sheep, cows, etc., and not in forests?
that the wolf is vitally important for the long-term health of wild ungulates, because it hunts sick or weak animals with incredible precision, for example, and is thereby vastly superior to recreational hunters?
that foxes, after being senselessly hunted, usually end up in the garbage?
that foxes today are hunted primarily so that there are more hares, etc. for recreational hunters to put in the frying pan? That the fox, however, feeds on hares in fewer than 10% of cases and would never catch a healthy hare?
that in animal welfare, one cannot confront recreational hunters with gentleness alone, street festivals, prayer chains, etc. (desperate times call for desperate measures)?
that recreational hunters, with their hunting jargon engage in a disrespectful mockery of living beings?
that it is frowned upon to shoot big game at feeding stations or during mating season, yet the recreational hunter has no scruples doing exactly this to the fox, a competitor for prey?
that in some cantons recreational hunters go hunting solely for the tender meat of a young animal?
that recreational hunters shoot pregnant mother animals in front of their young, or only young animals during the rearing period (post-special hunt)?
that recreational hunters poison the environment, nature, humans, and animals with their ammunition?
that bestiality, barbarity, cruelty, bloodshed, and senseless suffering cannot be considered cultural heritage in a civilized society?
that recreational hunters shoot approximately 10’000 roe deer fawns every year?
that recreational hunters in harsh winters lure starving animals with food only to shoot them in a treacherous and cowardly manner?
that recreational hunters send agitated dogs into burrows to eliminate foxes and badgers (den hunting)?
that recreational hunters lure peaceful living creatures into box traps, where they may suffer for days awaiting their killer, or are often subjected to an agonizing death struggle lasting hours (trap hunting)?
that recreational hunters cowardly slaughter or injure peaceful wild animals while they sleep or bask in the sun, ambushing them with state-of-the-art precision weapons?
that recreational hunters support awards, fur markets, prize ceremonies for trophy culture, trophy shows, fur trade, etc.?
that recreational hunters place firearms into the hands of underage schoolchildren and practice killing with them?
that recreational hunters often carry out their cruel acts in isolation, which encourages animal cruelty?
that recreational hunters seriously injure many wild animals, and the victims often suffer for hours under enormous pain and fear until a tracking dog finds them and they are shot?
that recreational hunters (apart from vivisection) inflict the most suffering and abuse on animals, including through the manner of killing?
that the hunter's love of animals and nature does not take pleasure in the existence of the beloved object, but rather aims to possess the beloved creature body and soul, culminating in making it prey through the act of killing?
that recreational hunters actively promote browsing damage through hunting pressure, particularly on predators such as fox, lynx and wolf?
that recreational hunters open the door to antisocial, unethical and unchristian behavior?
that recreational hunters deprive the public of normal, natural wildlife observations and interactions?
that there is no greater product of cruelty and ammunition contamination than venison?
that there is no uniform national regulation in Switzerland regarding vision tests, shooting practice, etc. for recreational hunters?
that there is no psychological character assessment for recreational hunters?
that there is no alcohol prohibition for recreational hunters when they shoot at animals with their weapons?
that recreational hunters infiltrate educational institutions to impose their hunters' jargon and their violence upon children?
that a court in Bellinzona recently confirmed that hunting associations promote virtually everything that is cruel, unnecessary and heartless?
that the association «Jagd Schweiz» cultivates above all disrespect and a culture of violence – precisely the opposite of what a civilised person in our society should aspire to.
that in the canton of Graubünden alone, more than 1’000 complaints and fines are issued against recreational hunters every year?

More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.

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.