Wolf Hunt Canton Schwyz: Illegal Baiting

An already heavily decomposed deer and a freshly field-dressed roe deer had been deliberately placed in the forest in front of a camera trap installed by the canton of SZ.

Both animals were tied down. Not far away stood a makeshift hunting blind with a line of sight and a clear shot to the carcasses. At another location, dog food was placed within view of a camera trap.

CHWOLF has sharply condemned the illegal and highly questionable conduct of the Canton of Schwyz and has filed a criminal complaint with the competent public prosecutor's office.

On 2 September 2025, the Canton of SZ, with the approval of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), issued a shooting order for 2/3 of the pups of the Chöpfenberg pack. Since the first wolf family in the Canton of SZ had hitherto kept a very low profile, CHWOLF had already filed a supervisory complaint with the competent cantonal government against this shooting order. Following the unjustified shooting order, the canton is now also attempting to shoot the three pups in the very heart of their core territory using illegal baiting sites.

Baiting of wildlife is prohibited

The feeding of wildlife is, pursuant to § 59 of the cantonal Hunting and Wildlife Protection Act (JWG), prohibited as a matter of principle:

1. The feeding of wildlife, and in particular the establishment of feeding sites for ungulates, is prohibited in principle.
2. Exceptions apply to private winter feeding of songbirds near dwellings and the stocking of lure sites by hunters in connection with lure hunting.

The Lusserjagd refers to hunting for furred game. According to Section 4.1 of the annual hunting regulations issued by the Department of the Environment on June 5, 2025, the badger, the pine marten and stone marten, the fox, the raccoon dog, and the raccoon are huntable wildlife species that may be hunted by means of Lusserjagd. The same provision also stipulates that the Lusserjagd begins on November 3, 2025.

None of these exceptional provisions permit the feeding of wolves. Since the Lusserjagd does not begin until November 3, the deposited carcasses cannot be intended for the Lusserjagd either. Since the baiting sites are located in the core territory of the Chöpfenberg pack, it must be assumed that they are intended for wolf hunting.

Conditions imposed by FOEN are being disregarded

In its approval decision of August 28, 2025, the FOEN expressly imposed on the canton the condition that culls are to be carried out away from the pack and, where possible, near livestock herds, settlements, year-round inhabited buildings, or facilities heavily used by humans. Culls at locations where a learning effect cannot be achieved, such as rendezvous sites, are to be prevented.

The brazen and irresponsible approach taken by the canton demonstrates once again that its aim is not to achieve a learning effect within the pack, but solely to shoot all approved wolf pups as quickly as possible.