Foreign hunters allowed to target Swiss ibex again

Foreigners will once again be allowed to kill ibex in Valais Keystone-SDA

The Swiss canton of Valais will relax its ban on foreigners hunting ibex, a type of long-horned mountain goat, from the start of next year.

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Hunters from outside the canton have been banned from targeting ibex in the canton in southwest Switzerland following a public outcry in 2021.

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Ibex shooting has long attracted foreign hunters to the Valais. In 2021, however, the canton discontinued the practice following a report by Swiss public broadcaster RTS, which provoked an outcry from the public, dismayed by the conditions of this tourist hunt.

In particular, it emerged that foreign hunters would pay up to CHF12,000 to kill a male ibex, depending on the length of its horns.

Since then, there have been calls for the return of foreign hunters. Last year, for example, the Grand Council accepted a postulate calling for a review of the ban.

In a press release issued on Thursday, the State of Valais announced that shooting will once again be open to foreign hunters from outside the canton, starting next year. The authorities explain that they have made “adjustments in order to guarantee the best possible conditions in the organization of the shootings.”

New terms and conditions

Valais, foreign and out-of-canton customers will now be subject to the same directive. The Service de la chasse, de la pêche et de la faune (SCPF) will have no contact with hunting agencies or other external partners. Shooting will therefore be organised directly between hunters and the SCPF.

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Customers will be required to pay the full amount of the fee to the canton prior to regulation. They must also hold a hunting license recognised by the SCPF and be accompanied in the field by a wildlife warden, who will make the final decision as to which animal is killed.

For foreign hunters and hunters from outside the canton, only the 11+ category, i.e. males over 11 years of age, will be available, depending on the annual shooting schedule validated by the Federal Office for the Environment.

Culling ‘necessary’

It should also be noted that fees will be set according to age category, and no longer according to the length of the ibex’s horns. Valais hunters will benefit from lower fees than customers from outside the canton and abroad.

This year, Valais wildlife wardens counted a record 7,000 ibex. In its press release, the canton asserts that regulation is necessary to minimise “competition between ibex populations and those of other species, such as chamois”. It is also necessary to reduce the damage caused by ibex to forests and crops.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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