Valais wishes to shoot lynx for the first time – even though the species is at its genetic limit

In Switzerland, wild animals are legally ownerless objects – res nullius, common property of the entire people.

The hunting regalia grants hobby hunters no ownership right over them, but only a state-granted right of use. Anyone who uses this right of use to eliminate protected predators that are biologically indispensable is abusing a privilege at the expense of the common good.

The canton of Valais is planning a Swiss first with a questionable premise: for the first time, a canton is to apply for an official regulation of lynx.

State Councillor Christophe Darbellay confirmed to the «Walliser Bote» that his department is having an official application prepared, with the aim of being allowed to shoot lynx for the first time this coming winter. The initiative is justified by declining roe deer and chamois populations in certain regions, particularly in Upper Valais.

What goes unmentioned in the official reasoning: the Eurasian lynx is not a robust species in Switzerland, but a genetically depleted one. And of all places, in Valais it has been systematically killed illegally over decades.

A species that needs “fresh blood”

The Swiss lynx descend from a few, partly closely related founder animals from the Slovakian Carpathians, which were reintroduced in the 1970s. According to KORA, the specialist agency for predator ecology, the Alpine lynx have lost 46 per cent of their genetic diversity compared with their ancestors in Slovakia, those in the Jura 30 per cent.

The consequences are no longer theoretical. Because the population descended from only a few, partly related founder animals, genetic diversity is low and inbreeding is increasingly an existential problem; without genetic diversity, the lynx can hardly adapt to changing environmental conditions or new pathogens. Among other things, a marked increase in heart murmurs has been observed, which are associated with genetic factors. KORA and the Institute for Fish and Wildlife Health (FIWI) therefore note that the population must be genetically refreshed in the medium term, for example through animals from the Carpathians. That the lynx remains threatened despite its comeback is also shown by recent studies on the state of the Swiss lynx population.

Depending on the monitoring year, around 300 to 360 independent animals live in Switzerland; for the biological year 2024/2025, KORA reports 364 independent lynx, of which 246 are in the Alps, 86 in the Jura and 32 in north-eastern Switzerland. The lynx remains on the Red List and is considered a nationally prioritised species. Against this backdrop, releasing a protected predator for shooting, whose greatest problem is the lack of genetic exchange, simply turns the scientific logic on its head.

In Valais the lynx was systematically poached

The canton of Valais is no neutral ground when it comes to the lynx. Various studies show that there are fewer lynx in Valais than would be expected given the suitability of the area; in Lower Valais, KORA at times recorded not a single lynx in its camera-trap monitoring south of the Rhone.

The reason was provided by an international research team led by Prof. Raphaël Arlettaz (University of Bern). The researchers examined whether the low population could be due to the density or positioning of the camera-trap network or to a lack of prey, but were able to refute these hypotheses, leaving only the poaching hypothesis. The peer-reviewed study, published in 2021 in «Frontiers in Conservation Science», documented a network of 17 snare traps at the Rhone bend, in the lynx's only immigration corridor into Valais; some traps were still operational when discovered. We have documented the case in detail under the title «Valais: Systematic Poaching» in detail.

The legal reckoning is sobering. In Valais, it took 20 years from the first tip-off to the first conviction of a hunter for lynx poaching, and the case was only solved through the work of the University of Bern. One hunter stated that he had already killed ten lynx with traps; a conviction was only achieved when his DNA traces could be detected on the traps that were found. According to WWF Switzerland, illegal killing is the second most common cause of death for the lynx. More on this in the dossier on poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland.

A state councillor who is privately a hobby hunter is having a kill application prepared for a strictly protected species whose populations in his canton have demonstrably been decimated by poaching. This is no coincidence, but a conflict of interest that must be named openly. Wild animals belong to the people, not to the hobby hunting lobby. An authority that manages this common good is accountable to the entire population and not to a minority of around 4 per cent hobby hunters. The Canton of Geneva has shown for over 50 years what wildlife policy without this conflict of interest looks like: professional, transparent and effective.

Who bears responsibility for the decline?

The conservation side clearly contradicts the official account. The Green cantonal councillor and Pro Natura managing director Jérémy Savioz submitted an urgent interpellation; from the conservationists' point of view, the kill quota is not scientifically justified, the lynx remains on the Red List and, by keeping the game on the move, fulfils an important function against browsing damage in the forest. Pro Natura also points out that around 1,000 roe deer are shot in Valais every year, and considers it unproven that the lynx is responsible for the decline in wildlife populations.

Put differently: the largest taker of roe deer in Valais is not the lynx, but hobby hunting itself. The fact that the same state councillor, who privately belongs to the hobby hunting milieu, is now targeting a protected predator as a competitor raises questions about the conflict of interests.

High legal hurdles

The path to a kill is narrow. The lynx is considerably more strongly protected than the wolf; regulation would only be possible if the canton can scientifically prove that the hunting regalia is seriously impaired, and a kill would only be permitted in the short winter window from 16 January to 28 February. In the end, the application is decided by the Federal Office for the Environment.

It is precisely this scientific proof that is likely to prove difficult, as long as the central question remains unresolved: How can a canton claim a «too high» lynx pressure, when its population has demonstrably been kept artificially low through poaching and its animals increasingly suffer from the consequences of inbreeding?