Zurich wants to amend hunting legislation: wildlife damage rules have "not worked out"

The Fisheries and Hunting Administration concedes that the rules on the prevention and compensation of agricultural wildlife damage, in force since the 2023 total revision, have failed to achieve their aim. The consultation on the partial revision is due to begin in mid-November 2026.

Editorial team of Wild beim Wild · 6 November 2026

Harvested field with round bales in front of an autumnal forest edge

Photo: Niki Clark / Unsplash

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The canton of Zurich wants to amend its hunting legislation again, just three years after the total revision. This was announced by the Fisheries and Hunting Administration (FJV) in the "FJV Bulletin" no. 9 of November 2026. The consultation on the partial revision is due to begin in mid-November 2026.

What the hunting administration wants to change

According to the FJV, the trigger is the changes to federal hunting legislation, which the Federal Council put into force "at short notice" on 1 February 2025. In particular, the wildlife damage rules for beavers and wolves have been fundamentally reworked, and the cantons must now financially compensate new categories of damage. There are also changes to the duties and rights of hunting supervision and of those holding hunting entitlements. Zurich's hunting legislation must therefore be "corrected". What the federal government changed at the time is explained on the overview page "What is the hunting act in Switzerland?».

At the same time, the canton wants to "streamline" enforcement. One example given is the recognition of hunting aptitude certificates issued in other cantons. At present this is tied to the applicant's place of residence, which, according to the FJV, has led to "unfortunate situations" when obtaining hunting entitlements. The administration does not say which cases it means.

Wildlife damage: "Not worked out"

The most contentious part concerns wildlife damage to agricultural crops. Since the total revision of the cantonal hunting legislation in 2023, both the contributions towards preventive measures and the total amount of estimated wildlife damage have 'risen constantly', writes the FJV. The workload for farmers has also risen 'unabated'. The plan to reduce the sum of damage as far as possible, and to pay contributions towards damage prevention and the upkeep of such measures in return, has 'not worked out'. The provisions on the prevention and compensation of wildlife damage are now to be aligned with the rules of the neighbouring cantons of Aargau and Thurgau. The bulletin gives no concrete figures or details on the new model.

For context: with regard to wild boars, Zurich is pursuing its own concept. The animals are meant to spend more time in the forest and less in the fields. To this end, the canton relies on scents that smell of human sweat, on devices that emit warning and pain calls of wild boars, and on night-time kills in the fields rather than in the forest, as the SDA news agency reported on 13 October 2026. According to the same report, recreational hunters in the canton kill 1’300 to 1’500 wild boars every year, yet the population still grows by up to 300 animals a year and currently stands at 2’500 to 3’000. In each of the last two years, the canton paid 380’000 francs in compensation to agriculture. The new wild boar management will be tested until mid-2028. We took a critical look at the concept in the article 'Zurich's Questionable Handling of Wild Boars'. High kill figures alone are no proof of successful damage limitation. Further examples are documented in the article 'Despite More Kills: Wild Boar Damage Remains High».

Drought increases the risk during driven hunts

In the same bulletin, the FJV warns of the safety consequences of the dry summer. The persistent drought increases the risk of unpredictable green-branch and crown breakages. For individuals the risk is low, it says, but at driven hunts the larger number of people creates an «increased collective risk». Areas with visible drought damage, dead branches or unstable trees should be avoided «where possible», and responsibility lies with the organisers. In this notice the FJV does not recommend abandoning driven hunts altogether. The stress that driven hunts place on wild animals is not addressed in the safety notice.

Comment: The revision must ask the systemic question

The admission demands more than a technical adjustment of the compensation rules. If prevention payments, estimated damage and workload are all rising at once, the canton must disclose why the existing arrangement has failed to meet its goal. The role of territorial hunting must also be put to the test: what measurable effect does it have on damage prevention, at what cost and with what consequences for wild animals? Zurich has chosen its own path, with deterrence in the fields and targeted kills. Whether it holds up must be shown by verifiable figures.

An honest assessment also includes how many wild boars, foxes and roe deer die every year, and what driven hunts mean for the non-human animals that are flushed out of their shelters. How thin the authority's justifications already are today is shown by the dispute between a Zurich resident and the hunting administration over the balance sheet of fox hunting. Instead of ever more pressure on wild animals, what is needed is prevention, professional wildlife wardens and habitats in which wild animals can find peace.

How you can get involved

According to the FJV, the draft will be published from mid-November on the cantonal platform vernehmlassungen.zh.ch. Anyone who wants to bring about political change beyond that will find the necessary steps in the guide «Popular initiative against recreational hunting: how to proceed in your canton».

Sources

More on the subject of recreational hunting: What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.

The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.

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