Valais: Wolf poached in Val d'Anniviers

In the Val d'Anniviers in Valais, unknown persons have apparently poached an adult female wolf. This emerges from a press release issued by the Valais cantonal police.

According to the report, a hiker found the dead animal F16 near the village of Pomi in Mayoux/Anniviers. According to police, the animal was killed by a shot to the shoulder.

In the Val d'Anniviers, a male wolf (M73) and a female wolf (F16) have recently been spotted on joint forays. Since wolves mate between January and March, there was a strong likelihood that a second pack would have formed there, following the pack in the Augstbord region.

This marks the second case of wolf poaching in Valais within the space of a year. In March 2016, a shot wolf was discovered along the Rhône near Raron. The perpetrators remain unknown to this day. The illegal killing of a wolf can be punished by up to one year in prison.

The enormous number of poaching incidents in Switzerland also shows that far too many weapons are in circulation, especially among hobby hunters who should never be in possession of them.

Police seeking witnesses

The animal carcass will be transported to the Institute of Pathology at the University of Bern for an autopsy. The cantonal public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation. All persons who can provide relevant information are asked to contact the Valais cantonal police.

The wolf is an ongoing issue in Valais (Wild beim Wild reported). Just shortly before Christmas, a young female wolf had been shot in the Augstbord region — albeit with the permission of the Federal Office for the Environment. The aim was both to reduce the size of the pack and to deter other wolves.

Initiative calls for a Valais free of predators

However, for many people the strict protection of wolves and other predators does not go far enough — particularly since last autumn, when a wolf pack was confirmed for the first time in the Upper Valais. A month ago, representatives from the CVP and CSP Upper Valais submitted the cantonal popular initiative for a “Valais without predators.”

The initiative aims to enable regulation of predator populations. The canton would be able to decide for itself how many wolves or lynxes should be tolerated in its forests for a balanced fauna. However, this conflicts with the Berne Convention, which protects certain wild animal species such as the wolf due to their small numbers. TheHunting Actprovides for culling only as a last resort.

Update 15.8.2020: Wolf poacher goes unpunished

The judicial authorities of the canton of Valais have closed the investigation into the case of a poached wolf in Val d'Anniviers.

The mystery surrounding the illegal killing of a wolf in Mayoux in Val d'Anniviers remains unsolved. The charges against the main suspect, a hobby hunter from the region, have been dropped by the Valais public prosecutor's office, as the«Nouvelliste»reports in its edition of Friday, 14 August 2020. Evidence pointed to a retired police officer living nearby.

“The results of the investigation made it possible neither to charge this person nor to identify the shooter,” writes Valais Attorney General Nicolas Dubuis in the closure order. Prosecutor Jean-Pierre Greter notes that the closure order has not yet become legally binding on one subsidiary point.

The suspected hobby hunter once again asserted his innocence to the «Nouvelliste»: “I have nothing to do with this illegal killing of a wolf.” His lawyer added that the only wrong thing his client had done was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time while out fox hunting.

Illegal killings occur regularly in the mountain canton. Most recently, in April 2019, a poached wolf was found on the outskirts of the village of Grengiols VS. But in this case too, a conviction appears unlikely. The proceedings have been suspended. “No possible perpetrator could be identified,” says the head of the Valais public prosecutor's office.

Even when there is strong suspicion, the evidence is difficult to establish. In 2018, a German national residing in the Upper Valais stood trial. The prosecution alleged that in spring 2016, he had shot the wolf male M63 through the heart from his bait site and thrown the carcass into a nearby river. Many indications pointed to the man. During a house search, silencers and other prohibited accessories were seized. Nevertheless, he was acquitted in court on the charge of poaching.

Dossier: Wolf in Switzerland: Facts, Policy, and the Limits of Hunting