Wolf: Federal Councillor Rösti Circumvents Law and Order

Wolves may in future also be shot before they have caused any damage. Preventive culling will be permitted from December onwards — by cantonal game wardens and hobby hunters.

Editorial Wild beim Wild — 2 November 2023

Federal Council Acts Against the Rule of Law

With the hunting ordinance entering into force on 1 December 2023, the Federal Council is acting in defiance of the rule of law.

Federal Councillor Rösti and his colleagues demonstrate a lack of understanding of species protection, democracy, and the interplay between alpine farming, wildlife, and forests.

This massacre is contrary to the Bern Convention and the decision of the electorate.

Arbitrary Hunting Ordinance Without Scientific Basis

The Federal Council is pushing ahead with amendments to hunting regulations that are entirely devoid of any wildlife biology rationale. The number of livestock killed dropped by half (GR) and by around 80% (GL). It has long been established that the number of livestock kills depends neither on the number of livestock nor on the number of wolves in the area, but primarily on whether effective herd protection measures have been implemented. And the will of the people is being knowingly disregarded — the electorate having clearly voted against the preventive culling of wolves in the 2020 hunting referendum.

Rösti is swiftly creating facts on the ground without any scientific foundation whatsoever — contrary to the will of the people, who clearly expressed a pro-wolf stance when rejecting the new hunting law.

Wolves Save More Sheep Than They Kill

Before the wolf appeared, 10’000 sheep died each year on alpine pastures because they fell unguarded off cliffs, got lost, or perished in harsh weather from cold or starvation. Since the return of the wolf and the shepherding now effectively required, only 3’000 sheep die during the alpine grazing season.

Rösti tritt Volkswillen mit den Füssen

Sharp Criticism From Cantonal Authorities

On September 6, the Conference on Forest, Wildlife and Landscape of the Cantons qualified the hunting ordinance — now adopted by the Federal Council largely unchanged — as arbitrary in content, one-sided, and in contradiction to scientific species protection considerations.

Today, around 300 wolves live in 32 packs in Switzerland. All but 12 of these packs are to be eradicated, with the population to be shot down by 70 percent — preventively, without even one of these wolves having previously attacked livestock such as sheep or cattle.