Privacy Policy Banner

We use cookies to improve your experience. By continuing, you agree to our Privacy Policy.

Wolves: Berne is thinking of allowing defense shots

ThoseAuthorize defense fire? Faced with the wolf, Berne is thinking of arming the shepherds

Albert Rösti’s services have looked at an assessment of the measure for the first time. A full report on his implications is expected.

Posted today at 10:07 a.m.

Jaeger Nenad R. observing in the hills of Comino, in the Nazional Parco del Locarnese, with mountains in the background, photographed on May 10, 2018 in the Centovalli valley.

Subscribe now and take advantage of the audio reading function.

Bottal
In short:
  • The federal administration studies the possibility of authorizing defense shots against wolves.
  • The Environment Commission unanimously asked for a report on this measure.
  • The Detec should present its conclusions this year again.
  • The fact remains that such an authorization raises important questions in terms of security.

A peasant who shoots a loup which would directly threaten a calf. A shepherd who watches over his herd, armed with a rifle. These situations are illegal today, but could be authorized tomorrow. The federal administration is currently working on the issue of defense fire. A subject that has not been taboo since last summer.

In August 2024the Environment, Regional and Energy Planning Commission (CEAT) of the National Council has indeed responsible the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (DETEC) to look into defense fire against wolves.

Night patrol with Fabrice Monnet of the Defand The Wolf association in the Joux valley, observing cows under a torch lamp.

His first conclusions were sent to the Commission at the start of the year. They analyze in particular French legislation, which knows the defense shots, and evaluate the legislative changes necessary to make in Switzerland if it had to be introduced.

-

On this basis, CEATE wishes to push reflection further. In a postulate tabled in February, it now requires a full report. If this request is yet to be officially supported in Plenum in June, the fact that it is supported unanimously and that the Federal Council also proposes to accept it shows that it will only be a simple formality.

“Ultimate measurement”

For Christine Bulliard-Marbach (the Center/FR), a member of the CEAT, this support is not surprising. “The population of wolves has increased so much that all the cantons are now concerned, and no longer only Valais and Graubünden. This theme, which has been concerned for so long, remains burning and there is a lot of dissatisfaction in the way the wolf is regulated. In particular the question of shooting authorizations. Is it the Confederation that must have the last word, the cantons or the people who would be threatened by the animal? Faced with these questions, we want answers. This is why the commission – unanimous – asked for a report on defense fire. ”

His goal? Identify the opportunities and risks of such a measure. “It is in particular to analyze the consequences of such a modification from the point of view of skills, costs, effects and possible implementation,” specifies the CEAT. Finally, the aim is to anticipate the contours of a possible legal adaptation allowing to register the defense shots against wolves in the law in force.

Questioned in more detail about this project, the Federal Office of the Environment does not wish to express themselves for the moment, since Parliament must still seize this object.

Caution that Sidney Kamerzin includes (the center/vs). “Defense shooting is sort of ultimate measurement. The one that intervenes if all regulation measures failed. If I am in favor of it, I am also aware that it would ask many questions in terms of security and training. Because it would amount to issuing an authorization to carry weapons to certain categories of people. It is undoubtedly from there that the restraint of the authorities comes. ”

Newsletter

“Latest news”Do you want to stay at the top of the info? “24 Hours” offers you two meetings per day, directly in your email box. To not miss anything of what is happening in your canton, Switzerland or in the world.

Other newslettersConnect

Florent Quiquerez is a journalist at the Swiss section since 2015. Specializing in politics, he covers federal news above all. Previously, he worked as a parliamentary correspondent for the French -speaking regional radios.More info

Did you find an error? Please report it to us.

0 comments

-

-

PREV AI at work in Switzerland: an increasingly widespread use, but often without control
NEXT Protectionism has undermined the industry in April, according to the PMI index