Wolf, lynx and beaver to be shot even faster

The Council of States is relaxing the protection of several animal species. But the centre-left also celebrates a partial victory.

The wolf population should be able to be regulated — but only when the predators cause significant damage. The Council of States has followed the Federal Council on a key point in the revised Hunting Act . In return, the upper chamber is also targeting beavers and lynxes.

Partial victory for the left

In a debate lasting over four and a half hours, tempers ran high. Under the new rules, authorities would be able not only to authorise the shooting of individual animals from protected species, but also to permit the culling of entire populations — subject, however, to conditions that are to be enshrined in law.

The Council of States approved this proposal by 25 votes to 20. This represents an important partial victory for the centre-left. The commission majority had wanted to go further and do away with strict conditions.

Beavers and lynxes in the crosshairs

In other respects, however, the Council of States went further than the government. Beavers and lynxes, too, should in future be easier to shoot. The votes were 27 to 17 and 28 to 16 respectively, with one abstention.

Regarding the beaver, the Council of States also wants to create the conditions for the federal government to be able to contribute to financing protective measures for infrastructure of public interest and to compensate for damages caused.

More powers for cantons

The Federal Council's proposal that cantons be allowed to temporarily shorten the closed seasons for huntable species without needing federal approval was supported by 28 votes to 14. The grey partridge, for example, is no longer listed as a huntable species because it is nearly extinct in Switzerland.

Referendum threat raised

Left-wing members of the Council of States criticized the proposal in its current form as a “pure shooting law.” Even center-right politicians from cantons with hunting traditions urged caution: “We must not overshoot,” said Werner Luginbühl (BDP/BE). If that happened, he warned, there would be a high risk that the revision of the hunting law would be shot down at the ballot box. Several environmental and animal welfare organizations had already preemptively threatened a referendum on Monday. More on the animal welfare problem of recreational hunting and on the hunting myths.