Wolf pups in Switzerland under fire

Proactive wolf management is based neither on scientific facts nor on knowledge about wolves, but on loud propaganda.

Editorial Team Wild beim Wild — July 10, 2025

Federal Councillor Albert Rösti and his Environment Department were repeatedly warned, not only by the Justice Department, that the shooting policy under the new hunting regulations was incompatible with the Bern Convention. All to no avail.

Using flimsy political arguments, without prior consultation and "against the will of the people," a massive relaxation of wolf protection was implemented in Switzerland.

The wolf is still a protected species. This means that wolves may not be killed, captured, kept, or disturbed without reason, especially during the breeding season; and their dens may not be damaged or destroyed.

In 2025, there are plans to cross an additional red line in the "regulation" of innocent wolves in the canton of Graubünden . The Office for Hunting and Nonsense, headed by Adrian Arquint, Marcel Michel, and Arno Puorger, plans to kill two-thirds of this year's wolf pups as part of so-called "basic regulation," with the support of amateur hunters. These pups have committed no crime – their only offense being that they were born and are therefore classified as part of the " two-thirds quota." In the worst-case scenario, this could result in the deaths of dozens of wolf pups during the massacre!

Hunting regulations Graubünden

The canton's stated intentions and justification reveal that its proactive wolf management aims solely to reduce the wolf population canton-wide in order to minimize the potential for conflict. The canton is therefore not responding situationally or selectively to problems or damage that could be considered justified exceptions under the Bern Convention, but rather seeks to decimate the population generally and across a large area, regardless of the cost. What is being presented as regulation is an ideologically motivated elimination project intended to displace wolves, which are so vital to the ecosystem. This is being done to benefit the already unbalanced and disproportionate pasture farming practices, with their detrimental consequences for flora and fauna in the alpine region.

Killing wolf pups is internationally condemned and ethically unacceptable. Switzerland is also repeatedly criticized by the Bern Convention for its wolf policy. Furthermore, the newly used term 'basic regulation' is neither defined nor mentioned in the hunting law or the hunting regulations.

The appalling state of hunting practices in the canton of Graubünden is well-known far beyond its borders, even internationally. Hunting in Graubünden is simply highly criminal, characterized by violence, unscientific practices, and animal cruelty. However, our legal system is not yet advanced enough to address this in criminal law. Every year, over 1,000 administrative fines are issued against recreational hunters in Graubünden, and dozens of charges are filed. Furthermore, according to studies on tracking wounded game and comparisons with game wardens, these violent offenders are the worst shots in the country. The canton of Graubünden is considered a prime example of ignorance, manipulation, and incompetence, and not only in wolf management.

Hobby hunters practice speciesism. Speciesism is comparable to racism and sexism, and it is not a culture or tradition.

Natural population control by predators such as wolves, lynxes, or foxes is selective, dynamic, and behaviorally adapted – a complex interplay that sadistic culling plans by authorities in Bern or Graubünden, riddled with violent offenders, can never replace. Recreational hunting does not replace ecological balance. The practice of culling is a prime example of environmental degradation under the guise of sustainable management.

It must be taken into account that wolves are now widespread in parts of the cantons of Valais and Graubünden, as well as in the western Vaud Jura. In this situation, wolf populations regulate themselves through their territoriality; where one pack lives, no new one settles. According to scientists, a slowing of population growth can be expected there even without regulation.

Thanks to improved livestock protection, the number of wolf kills also decreased significantly by the end of September 2024. In the canton of Graubünden, the decrease was 35%, and in the canton of Valais, it was 15%. Nationwide, the number of wolf kills had already fallen by 40% in 2023 compared to 2022. In 2024, as in previous years, most kills occurred in unprotected or inadequately protected herds. The decline in livestock kills began as early as 2023, even before the first preventative culling of wolves. Ultimately, the decrease in livestock kills is primarily the result of enhanced livestock protection measures implemented from 2022 onward, when a substantial increase in funding for protective measures was approved for the first time.

A similar situation can be observed in Brandenburg, Germany. Fifty-eight wolf packs live in Brandenburg – more than in any other German state. In Brandenburg, the increasing number of wolves has led to a decline in the deer population, particularly red and fallow deer, which benefits the forest and ecosystem. In 2024/25, recreational hunters in Oder-Spree shot only 128 red deer; previously, the number was 800.