Valais stops shooting of three wolf packs
Published: Wednesday, Dec 13th 2023, 13:50
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On Wednesday, the canton of Valais halted the shooting of the wolf packs of Les Hauts-Forts, Nanz and Le Fou-Isérables. The decision follows an appeal by nature conservation organizations to the Federal Administrative Court, which granted suspensive effect for the duration of the proceedings.
As a result of the complaint, State Councillor Frédéric Favre (FDP) has temporarily halted the shooting permits for the packs of Les Hauts-Forts, Nanz and Le Fou-Isérables, the canton announced on Wednesday.
At the beginning of December, Favre decided to order the regulatory culls for the packs of Nanz, Augstbord, Hérens-Mandelon, Le Fou-Isérables, Les Toules, Les Hauts-Forts and Chablais. The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) had previously given the green light.
The canton insisted on Wednesday that all conditions for ordering proactive regulation had been met. In each of these regions, several farm animals had been killed in protected situations in the last twelve months, the canton emphasized.
Not proportionate
The complainant organizations Pro Natura, WWF, BirdLife and the Wolf Switzerland group disagree: in their opinion, the federal government and cantons are disregarding the "principle of proportionality and the important role that the predator plays in the forest ecosystem". They have lodged two appeals with the FAC against some of the permits issued by the FOEN. One concerns the canton of Graubünden, the second the canton of Valais.
The FOEN and the cantons had gone too far in some cases, Nicolas Wüthrich, Pro Natura's information officer, explained on Monday in support of the complaints.
When discussing the hunting law, Parliament "clearly emphasized" that the killing of an entire pack must remain the "absolute exception" and should only affect those that have gotten "out of control".
Eleven wolves killed in Valais
In response to the organizations' request, Graubünden suspended the shooting of the entire "Stagias" and "Vorab" packs in the Surselva on Monday, as well as the regulation of young animals from the "Rügiul" pack near Poschiavo and the "Jatzhorn" pack near Davos. As a first step, the canton stopped all wolf hunting.
The Federal Council brought the first part of the amendment to the Hunting Act into force for a limited period on November 1 and amended the ordinance accordingly. This gives the cantons the opportunity to carry out "preventive regulatory shooting" as early as December and January if they receive approval from the FOEN.
After examining the cantonal applications, the FOEN approved the shooting of twelve complete packs. Only the request from the canton of Ticino to shoot the entire pack in the Onsernone Valley was rejected. Since then, according to a count last week, eight wolves have been killed in Graubünden out of the 44 approved culls. In Valais, according to the latest figures, eleven wolves were killed out of around 34 that were targeted.
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