Valais: Another Lynx Poached

Bullet fragments found in lynx

The cantonal office for hunting in Valais has once again filed a criminal complaint against persons unknown with the public prosecutor's office.

The criminal complaint is based on the autopsy report by the Institute of Animal Pathology at the University of Bern (FIWI) concerning another lynx found dead in the Crans-Montana region. Bullet fragments were discovered during the autopsy, whose location and extent suggest a direct connection with the animal's death.

The lynx is a strictly protected species and poaching one constitutes an offence that should be prosecuted ex officio.

The predator had been found in mid-October in a scree field along the Suone Rho trail by a hiker, who subsequently alerted the wildlife wardens.

20 years to a conviction

It took 20 years in Valais before a hobby hunter was convicted of lynx poaching following the first tip-off. One case was solved thanks to the work of the University of Bern.

An international research team investigated why so few lynxes were living in Valais. Camera traps and tracks in the snow revealed that the lynx population in the Rhône Valley is around 80% lower than in the pre-Alpine regions of Bern and Vaud.

Since 2014, several wolves have also been illegally shot in Valais, according to the large carnivore coordination centre Kora. The shooters were never identified.