Swiss canton of Valais resumes wolf hunting on Alpine meadows

Hunters in the Swiss canton of Valais shot a wolf near Goms on Tuesday. The cantonal authorities had previously issued a shooting permit for this. Since the beginning of grazing in the Alps, there have been regular attacks by wolves on the sheep herds. Two weeks ago, more than ten sheep had been killed.

According to the canton of Valais, the recently relaxed requirements of the national hunting law to allow hunting of the protected wolf had been met. That may now kill cattle like wolves that graze in shielded gebieden (with fences), or in steep rocky gebieden that cannot be fenced.

Previously, wolves could only be killed if a large number of animals had been attacked in a very short time. In the past 15 years, the Wallis department has reportedly hunted a wolf on only five occasions. In recent months, Swiss farmers and villagers are increasingly pushing for the earlier and more frequent elimination of wolves that cause damage to livestock.

In Wallis, wolves are said to have killed at least 35 sheep in July alone. The local authorities therefore asked on Tuesday to be allowed to shoot one or more wolves. Also in the cantons of Bern, Graubünden and Vaud there is increasing resistance against the wolf among the local population.

A week ago, the canton of Graubünden announced it would kill at least one wolf after numerous attacks on livestock grazing among farm animals on several Alpine pastures. The canton of Vaud applied to the federal government on Monday to be allowed to shoot two young wolves after several confirmed attacks on livestock in the Vaud Jura.