Wolves, lynx, bear: towards a license to kill in Switzerland?

The countdown is launched. Therefore. However, The few days remaining until the time set for the harvesting of the signatures are also extended one from the supporters’ site From this initiative. Meanwhile, which promises to arouse controversy. Meanwhile, It wants to demot the status of protection of large predators. wolves, lynx, bear: towards license new However, The initiators have until July 30 to deposit 100,000 initials to the Federal Chancellery. Nevertheless, Are they at touching end? However, “We are going to communicate in the coming days,” replies one of the officials.

If the suspense remains whole, the content of the initiative is well known. For example. Meanwhile, It is a question of adding to the constitution a new article, which somehow resembles a license to kill. Meanwhile, Here is what he says: “The wolf. For example. the lynx, the bear and the raptors can be driven out in wolves, lynx, bear: towards license order to effectively regulate their populations and prevent uncontrolled propagation.” Parliament would have two years after accepting the text to implement it.

Why do you want to slash in the status of protection of these different species? Similarly, The initiators wolves, lynx, bear: towards license new have an argument in five points. Therefore, The first affects agriculture. However, Thanks to their proposal, we could limit attacks on farming animals. However, The second point concerns the “overpopulation of wolves, lynx and bear”, which would endanger other wild species.

The third aspect relates to the safety of people. Meanwhile, “In several regions, dangerous meetings between humans and large predators have already taken place.” The fourth, wolves, lynx, bear: towards license new on legal certainty. However, “Currently. Similarly. interventions on predators are strongly limited by strict laws, the initiative aims to establish a clear legal basis to allow rapid and effective elimination of problematic animals.”

And the initiators to conclude: that “sustainable regulation protects not only farming, but also cultural landscape and tourism”. Consequently, For them, “the simple protection of predators without effective control measures is not viable”.

Wolves, lynx, bear: towards license new

Wolves. lynx. bear: towards license

More than 300 wolves, lynx, bear: towards license lynx, some 200 wolves, but no bear

But how many of these major predators are on Swiss territory? To find out, we consulted the Kora figures. This foundation has the mission of working for the conservation of wildlife, in particular carnivores. And it keeps an updated register regularly.

Let’s start with The wolf. Three hundred and twenty individuals were observed in 2024. After regulationthere were 210. But the trend is clearly upwards. For lynx also the number of animals is increasing. We are now talking about a population of 335 Individuals over the period 2023-2024. of which about three-quarters (261) are in the Alps, the remaining individuals (82) are located in the Jura arc.

Finally, Bears are detected Almost every year in Engadine and in the National Park wolves, lynx, bear: towards license region. They come from neighboring Italy. “but there is not yet a population resident in Switzerland”, it is well specified on the Kora site.

If these three predators are protected, there are already possibilities today to kill them.

For the bear, slaughter is authorized when considered by federal authorities as a “at risk” animal. According to A 2021 reportit is “a bear which is not intimidated by the scare measures. which no longer fears man. is difficult to hunt, or which is wolves, lynx, bear: towards license new aggressive towards man, hurts or kills a person”. This was the case of M13. emblematic bear which had to be fired in 2013, after having regularly ventured in residential areas.

For the lynx. the shots are authorized when an individual causes “important damage to rent animals. that no other satisfactory solution is found, that this derogation does not harm the population in question and that the reasonable protective measures have been taken wolves, lynx, bear: towards license before”. Lynx plan evokes a minimum of fifteen animals attacked in a perimeter of 5 km over a year.

The wolf is even less protected. Since the partial revision of the Hunting Act in 2023, the latter may be proactively regulatedeven without major attack on cattle. The year last year, one in three individuals was thus killed.

Wolves, lynx, wolves, lynx, bear: towards license new bear: towards license new

Wolves. lynx. bear: towards license

One more attack against the protection of predators

However, this initiative is not the first attack on species protection. Whether they come from Parliament or civil society, the latter are even increasing. A situation that worries nature protection circles.

“These attacks most often come from environments which see the protection of such. such animal as an obstacle for an activity. economic or not,” reacts Léo Richard, wolves, lynx, bear: towards license spokesperson for Pro Natura. He continues. “Regarding major predators. the few means allocated to breeders. breeders for the protection of their herds can push to imagine the shot as the solution.” According to him. this context makes it possible to capitalize on these tensions at the political level. which does not help a situation already tense wolves, lynx, bear: towards license new on the ground.

“Even if Pro Natura is not frankly convinced by its content. the hunting order has defined the regulation framework since the beginning of 2025,” he adds. We now need to step back on its application by the cantons in a stable legal framework. even if the news shows us that the applied methods are very heterogeneous. sometimes questionable in the case of wolves. ” He refers here to revelations of the Sunday press. showing that half of the wolves killed in Valais were wolves, lynx, bear: towards license not the right ones.

According to Léo Richard, we should also give back and listen to the recommendations of scientists specializing in wildlife. “This could precisely be an opportunity to open a dialogue that this kind of initiative helps to make more difficult.”

Will the people have the last word in this emotional debate? We will know it in a few days.

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