Wolf and Bear in the Canton of Schwyz

A bear may have been spotted in Hoch-Ybrig SZ. At the same time, it has been confirmed: a wolf is living in the Einsiedeln region.

Editorial Team Wild beim Wild — 30 May 2016

In the eyes of Schwyz hunting director Thomas Fuchs, much points to the fact that a bear is indeed roaming the Hoch-Ybrig area.

However, “a definitive proof” is still lacking. Camera traps have been set.

“We were completely taken aback when we saw the bear pictures over the weekend,” says Thomas Fuchs, head of the Office for Nature, Hunting and Fisheries, on Monday.

“Concrete Evidence”

The TV channel TeleZüri had broadcast footage on Saturday from a farming family in the Hoch-Ybrig area. The photos show a black animal in a snow-covered gully on a mountain slope. The animal resembles a bear. The images are said to come from the hiking and ski area of Hoch-Ybrig, in the immediate vicinity of the mountain cable cars.

The Marty family was busy with fencing work on their alpine pasture «Laucheren» when four-year-old Leandro called out to his father: “Look, a bear over there!” André Marty initially did not believe his son. When he finally looked up and saw the bear on a snowfield nearby, he “nearly had a heart attack.” He immediately grabbed his son and ran with him to their alpine hut. The first time Marty looked back, he saw the bear running off in the other direction towards Spirstock. Marty immediately took a photo. “Otherwise nobody would have believed me!” Marty told the online editorial team of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung. Had the bear wanted to pursue him, he would have had no chance, as the bear was moving at tremendous speed.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxZnVYmMNag&w=853&h=480%5D

Although much suggested that the images showed a bear, they were not sufficient as proof, said Fuchs. “If a bear is supposed to be in our area for the first time in 212 years, I want to be able to present solid evidence,” he said. After all, it would be the first bear on the northern side of the Alps in Switzerland since the species was extirpated.

To confirm the presence of the bear, several camera traps have already been set up in the suspected area. Intensive searches for tracks were also carried out — but so far without success. "We found no droppings, no tracks in the snow, nothing," said Fuchs. He hopes to be able to conduct a DNA test as soon as possible.

Over the weekend, the head of hunting also spoke with the responsible officials in Graubünden, where the first brown bear in 150 years had been spotted in July 2005 and where sightings have occurred almost every year since. "Based on the most recent sighting in Graubünden, it is quite possible that the bear has made its way to the canton of Schwyz," said Fuchs.

What is strange, he noted, is that not a single sign of the bear's existence has been found along the suspected route. "An animal as large as the bear normally leaves clear tracks," the head of hunting is convinced.

Once the existence of this bear is definitively confirmed, the public will be further informed. Anyone who spots the bear or finds tracks should immediately contact the wildlife wardens .

Wolf caught on camera trap

What Fuchs was able to confirm on Monday, however, was the presence of a wolf in the canton of Schwyz. "As was already the case in December of last year, a wolf has been detected in the Einsiedeln/Ybrig region."

The identification was made using images from camera traps and tracks that were confirmed as wolf prints by the wildlife wardens.

A wolf was also detected in the same area last winter. Whether it is the same animal cannot be stated with certainty. The wildlife wardens have found no direct evidence such as kills or tracks since the last confirmation.

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