Council of Europe investigates Swiss wolf policy

Bern Convention Committee investigates Swiss wolf policy Keystone-SDA

The Standing Committee of the Bern Convention in the Council of Europe has decided to initiate an investigation into Switzerland's wolf-shooting policy. A complaint by two Swiss wolf conservation organisations has been upheld.

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The main criticism from CH-Wolf and Avenir Loup Lynx Jura (ALLJ) of the Swiss authorities’ current wolf management is the arbitrary definition of five regulation regions with a threshold of 12 packs across Switzerland, Christina Steiner, president of CH-Wolf, told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA on Friday.

They also criticise the lowered kill numbers and the preventive culls and pack regulations, solely to avoid possible damage in the future. “In our opinion, such an approach is clearly not compatible with the Bern Convention,” both organisations said in a statement.

The Standing Committee of the Bern Convention apparently shared the concerns and decided unanimously on Thursday to open a corresponding investigation dossier. This means that Switzerland will have to report again on its wolf management at the next meeting in spring 2025.

+ Swiss wolf culls designed to protect livestock and people

In addition to the two wolf conservation organisations, the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) was also heard at the meeting in Strasbourg. The FOEN’s presentation was met with great scepticism by the participating countries, according to CH-Wolf and ALLJ.

At least 20 packs form the scientific basis

Only on Tuesday, the same committee of the Council of Europe had lowered the protection status of the wolf from “strictly protected” to “protected” at the behest of a two-thirds majority of its member countries.

According to the two wolf conservation organisations, the spokesperson for Germany in particular emphasised on Thursday that the downgrading of wolf protection is not a free pass to shoot wolves en masse and that the wolf remains a protected animal. Moreover, even with the protected status, a favourable conservation status of at least 20 packs in Switzerland remains the scientific basis.

The Bern Convention is an international treaty adopted in 1979 for the protection of wild animals and plants. Switzerland is a member of the Council of Europe and has ratified the Convention.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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