The big wolf hunt in the Swiss mountains

As the final ruling is awaited, the debate remains heated due to the new measures introduced by Environment Minister Rösti. Previously it had been up to the scientists and wildlife biologists to give guidance on these matters. They maintain that 20 packs must be left untouched to ensure the wolf’s survival in Switzerland. Reinhard Schnidrig, who heads the wildlife conservation section at the Federal Office for the Environment has consistently held that position. He first told “Swiss Review” in 2015 that 20 packs were needed for survival of the species; 60 packs were ecologically sustainable; and “somewhere in between” lay “what is socio-economically feasible”. Federal Councillor Rösti now finds that 12 packs are enough. The nature conservation organisations aren’t the only ones scratching their heads wondering what lies behind this much lower threshold. Is the environment minister prepared to accept the extinction of this protected species in Switzerland? Going forward, is politics to be the sole arbiter of Swiss environmental questions instead of science? And, if so, how does that translate into managing the huge environmental challenges facing us: climate change and species extinction?

Urban versus rural Switzerland

Social tensions are also simmering following these recent events. Switzerland’s urban population, which is detached from nature, is accused of having a romanticised view, seeing the wolf as evidence that a real Alpine wilderness is still out there, conveniently glossing over the fact that the urban Swiss are overexploiting the Alpine region for leisure purposes and changing its very nature. At the same time, sympathy is also thin on the ground for Switzerland’s mountain folk, for whom letting sheep roam the Alps during summer is a cherished tradition. The Federal Administrative Court sees it thus: federal authorities have authorised the hunting of entire wolf packs in areas where measures to protect the sheep would have been entirely feasible but were not taken. Choosing to shoot the wolves instead when the federal government has earmarked millions of Swiss francs every year for the purpose of protecting flocks (2024: 7.7 million) is what is causing friction between urban and rural Switzerland.

On the other hand, the hawkish anti-wolf lobby represented by the association known as Verein zum Schutz der ländlichen Lebensräume vor Grossraubtieren (Association for the Protection of Rural Habitats from Large Predators) argues that Switzerland’s entire wildlife policy has been a complete failure. They want the country to be free of wolves, lynxes and bears. The association’s co-president Georges Schnydrig applauds the Federal Council: “Albert Rösti is the first federal councillor to take action” and “the wolves are destroying our agricultural way of life and culture”, Schnydrig remarked to the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” in December 2023. The nature protection organisations counter that the wolf must be seen as part of the forest ecosystem – and that the solution is, and has always been, effective herd protection. This is backed by the data. In 2022, almost 1,700 livestock were taken by wolves; in 2023 – despite wolf numbers having increased – the number dropped to 1,000.

Granted, 1,000 sheep ending up as dinner for wolves is not negligible. At the same time, about five times as many Alpine sheep are killed every year by falls, rockfall, parasites, lightning and disease. This is also relevant to the debate: letting the sheep out to graze on Alpine pastures during the summer is not without its downsides.

New Survey shows critical position against preventive shooting

15 March 2024. Less than a third – 31 percent – of the Swiss population support preventive wolf shooting. A much larger proportion of the population – 46 percent – oppose them. And: the younger the respondents, the clearer the rejection. Among the under 30s, only 20 percent are in favour of preventive shooting. These are the findings of a survey conducted by the Centre for Public Opinion Research YouGov Switzerland (formerly Link Marketing Services) at the end of February 2024. This also shows that the majority has not shifted: In the 2020 referendum on the Hunting Act, a majority voted against the law. The controversial preventive shooting was the most frequently cited reason for the rejection. (MUL)

For more information

• “Swiss Review” interview from 2015 with Reinhard Schnidrig, head of the wild animals section at the Federal Office for the Environment
• “Swiss Review” article on the return of the predatory lynx, bear, wolf and otter to Switzerland (2015)
• “Swiss Review” article, 25 years after the return of the wolf (2020)
• Fact sheet on the wolf by the Federal Office for the Environment (in French and German) (2023)

Editor's note: This article was updated on 15 May 2024. In particular, the figures on animals killed by wolves in 2022 and 2023 have been adjusted.