There are 32 wolf packs living in Switzerland. As of today, more than one in three are cleared for shooting. Animal rights activists are sharply critical – and experts doubt that the measure can solve the problem.
The Swiss Environment Minister Albert Rösti had clear words at the beginning of November: “If we don’t act quickly now, the growth of the wolf population will continue, combined with intolerable damage and losses to entire breeding families of farm animals.” Now the time has come: Wolves can also be killed preventively in Switzerland – and entire packs. Twelve of the 32 wolf packs in the country have been approved for shooting.
Almost 1,500 farm animals were killed by wolves in Switzerland in 2022. A heavy burden for farmers like Eliane Kreuzer in the canton of Valais, who lost 80 sheep in one summer. “It’s like war, so that’s bad. They’ve bitten through the windpipe, bitten through the throat, or the jaw is hanging down. There are injured or dead lambs lying around everywhere, these are really bad pictures that you’ll never forget.”
Criticism from experts
Christina Steiner, President of the animal protection organization CH Wolf, also says that it’s “not a nice sight when you come to the herd and there are dead or injured animals lying there, that’s very clear.” But now a “real wolf massacre” is being planned, she criticizes and doubts that the country’s livestock would be better protected by shooting entire packs of wolves.
Stable packs would generally cause much less damage than individual animals and especially young wolves that are not yet experienced in hunting. Because they rely on easy prey – and that is a big problem. “If everyone has the feeling: ‘The wolves are being shot, so I don’t have to protect the herd anymore,’ then no alpine farmer will start protecting the herd again.”
The number of cracks has fallen by almost a third
Although there are more and more wolves in Switzerland, according to the organization CH Wolf, the number of livestock killed has decreased – thanks to improved herd protection with specially trained dogs and electric fences. “This year we had 29 percent fewer cracks across Switzerland thanks to better herd protection. In the canton of Graubünden there were even 50 percent fewer cracks this year. And in the canton of Glarus there were over 85 percent fewer cracks.”
The Swiss shooting policy is a violation of the Bern Convention – an international treaty to protect wild plants and animals, say animal protection organizations and have lodged a complaint with the Council of Europe. Susanne Clauss from the organization Avenir Loup Lynx Jura believes that behind the hunt for the wolves are the party political interests of the Swiss Environment Minister, whose SVP won the parliamentary elections at the end of October: “This is electoral politics for the right-wing conservative SVP in order to win the elections. We are shocked by such a decision, which actually sets us back decades in terms of herd protection and cohabitation with large carnivores in Switzerland.”
Young wolves take place in packs
It is also questionable whether regulating the Swiss wolf population by shooting twelve packs of wolves is even possible. Apart from the fact that hunting wolves is very difficult, especially in winter, the extinction of a pack creates habitat for other wolves. Urs Büchler, President of the Swiss Gamekeepers Association: “Then it may be that this area is filled up by young wolves looking for new territories. And we have these within Switzerland, but also outside Switzerland. There is countless evidence of wolves from Germany, Italy and France that immigrate to Switzerland.”
There are also wolves that migrate from Switzerland to other countries, and the dynamic is very high. “Gaps that we create through shooting will definitely be filled,” the wildlife expert is certain.
Wolves don’t care about national borders – sometimes they migrate thousands of kilometers. The Italian wolf researcher Luigi Boitani said on SRF that the shootings that Switzerland is now carrying out must therefore be repeated every year.
Kathrin Hondl, ARD Geneva, tagesschau, December 1st, 2023 11:30 a.m