Fewer livestock kills despite more wolves in Switzerland
Published: Saturday, Dec 30th 2023, 15:50
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In Switzerland, the number of wolves has risen from around 240 to around 300 in the space of a year - but the number of livestock killed by this predator is falling. This is shown by an evaluation of cantonal data by the Swiss Wolf Group.
Based on this data, it assumes that a total of 1100 livestock will be killed by wolves in Switzerland this year. In 2022, there were 1480 livestock kills, which corresponds to a decrease of around 25 percent.
David Gerke, Managing Director of the Wolf Switzerland Group, confirmed a corresponding report by Tamedia newspapers to the Keystone-SDA news agency on Saturday and presented the evaluation to Keystone-SDA. The evaluation was dated December 26. It was based on cantonal data available on the Internet.
Four cracks per wolf
In the six cantons where there were wolf packs, the number of farm animals killed fell from 1329 last year to around 950 this year. The non-governmental organization assumes that around 150 more farm animals will be killed this year in cantons without wolf packs. This is the same number as last year.
According to the factsheet published by the Wolf Group, livestock kills by wolves have fallen sharply in the canton of Graubünden this year. In the canton of Valais, the number of livestock kills was slightly lower than in the previous year, while livestock kills increased in the cantons of Vaud and St. Gallen.
Based on figures from the Federal Office for the Environment and the Foundation for Predator Ecology and Wildlife Management (Kora), the Wolf Group also says that an average of four livestock kills per wolf have been recorded in the current year. There were nine in 2020 and six in the previous year.
Complaints pending
At the beginning of November, the Federal Council decided that wolves may also be shot as a preventative measure from December this year - the rapid spread of wolves has not yet been halted. The cantons of Valais and Graubünden subsequently issued culling orders for a total of 78 wolves.
Three environmental organizations subsequently lodged an appeal against some of these shooting orders with the Federal Administrative Court. The federal government and cantons disregarded the principle of proportionality and the important role that the predator plays in the forest ecosystem. These appeals are still pending.
©Keystone/SDA
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