Wolf shots in Valais: “We play apprentice wizards”, deplores a specialist – RTS.CH

According to an analysis of the University of Lausanne obtained by the Sonntagsblick by virtue of the Transparency lawout. Meanwhile, of 34 wolves slaughtered in Valais between September 2024. Moreover, January 2025, half was not one of the packs designated by the Confederation. However, Worse, this rate is increasing, according to the study cited by the newspaper. Similarly, Ecologists thus accuse Valais of serious errors and criticize the lack of adequate surveillance wolf shots valais: “we play new and knowledge.

>> Read more on this subject: In Valais. Furthermore. Therefore, when the wolf hunt turns to the lottery

Guest Monday wolf shots valais: “we play evening in the Forum program, Christophe Darbellay, Valais State Councilor in charge of hunting, however questioned the authenticity of this statistics. Moreover, “I have collaborators who are professionals. Moreover, biologists, accustomed to reading scientific literature, and who have not found any report that evokes this figure,” he castigates.

“So I simply put them on the account of the Sonntagsblick Sonntags. However, For the rest. Furthermore. However, all the wolves that have been drawn in Valais, without any exception, were in the context of legality,” he continues, believing that this case is like a “summer controversy” which is “very interesting for lobbyists of the wolf”, “groups always “Valais-Bashing in which the media often participate quite happily”.

Impossible to identify in a telescope – Wolf shots valais: wolf shots valais: “we play new "we play

Since the partial revision of the Hunting Act in 2023. For example. it is possible to prevent isolated wolves or whole packs even in the absence of significant damage on herds. The Federal wolf shots valais: “we play Office of the Environment must approve requests from the cantons. which determine the hunting area as precisely as possible.

However, on the ground, it is impossible for hunters to identify the individuals from which they draw, recalls Christophe Darbellay. “Identifying a wolf at 100 meters in a thermal camera in the middle of the night is a science. that no one masters. ” asserts the State Councilor. who believes that his canton is “truffled” with wolves and reaffirms his objective: reducing the number of packs present in Valais by thirteen to three, even if it means making mistakes.

A choice of word wolf shots valais: “we play already partly biased. retorts the biologist and ethologist Jean-Marc Landry, a wolf specialist. “It is a purely human point of view. These are territorial animals and Valais has a lot of space to welcome a lot of wolves. So it’s not ‘truffled’ wolves, there are simply wolves in Valais,” he tempers.

Invited Tuesday in Forum, the specialist joins the politician on the difficulty of identifying the individuals who are killed. “When you shoot in the fall. we have dispersions, wolves that leave the territories, exchanges between the packs, which sometimes know each other … In addition, the wolf is a social species, so sincerely, you do not wolf shots valais: “we play new know who you shoot.”

Change

However. he continues. “if we want to reduce damage to the herds, you have to pull the right wolf at the right time. It requires knowledge, and therefore put a little science in all of this”. Which is not the case wolf shots valais: “we play currently, deplores the scientist.

“I think there is a part that is purely political. because we want to regulate the wolf as we do for all the fauna,” he analyzes. “There are also lack of funding. For example. we could have measured the efficiency of the shots by making areas where we shoot. others where we do not shoot. We could then see if the shot is more effective than the protection of herds”.

But nothing like this is currently done, what he considers regrettable. “It’s a shame. because even if we see that attacks decrease. we cannot really draw conclusions, when we wolf shots valais: “we play new put hundreds of thousands of francs. The question is whether we should not invest this money to increase knowledge and protection,” he pleads.

The “gray method”

Bringing down wolves not part of the packs deemed problematic can even prove to be counterproductive. he continues. “You should know that there are wolf shots valais: “we play wolves. or even whole packs, which attack the herds very little. If you start to shoot in these packs. you can bring more problems; we have seen that in the canton of Vaud” [lire encadré].

The specialist finally recommends a complementary approach, between herd protection and regulation. Finally. he believes that the “partial regulation” method. applied in Graubünden and which consists in shooting only young wolves, would be preferable.

“What this method is interesting is that you are not likely to draw a reproductive that is not a problem. which does not attack the herds. If you draw an wolf shots valais: “we play new individual like that. you can, in some cases, destroy the group and create more problems than you solve. So by pulling young people, you take much less risk.”

Pierrik Jordan

Interview by Thibaut Schaller, Mehmet Gultas and Anne Fournier