Monitoring wolf packs costs Switzerland CHF500,000

A shepherd looks out for predatory wolves in the Swiss Alps. Keystone / Arno Balzarini

The Swiss state spends around CHF500,000 ($506,000) a year keeping track of the growing wolf population in the Alpine country.

The money is part of a CHF1.1 million annual funding package used to monitor all large carnivores in Switzerland, including lynx and bears.

Funds are distributed between the Carnivore, Ecology and Wildlife Management foundation (Kora) and the Laboratory for Conservation Biology at the University of Lausanne, the government said in response to a parliamentary question.

There are currently 20 wolf packs in Switzerland with a total of around 150 wolves. In the next three years, the population could increase to at least 350 wolves divided into 50 packs, according Kora.

This could increase friction between wolves and people, particularly alpine farmers who see livestock killed by the predators.

Cantons situated in Alpine regions have recently called for more state funds to be allocated to tackling this problem.

In the cantons of Valais, Graubünden, Glarus, Ticino and Uri, a total of 1,000 sheep and cattle have already been killed by wolves in 2022.

Two years ago, voters vetoed a parliamentary decision to ease restrictions on the hunting of wolves in Switzerland. Under current law, the wolf is a protected species and can only be culled if it first kills a certain number of livestock.