Swiss farmers call for greater protection of mountain pastures

According to recent estimates, 74% of sheep pastures and 79% of goat pastures are not protected at night. Keystone-SDA

An unusual procession took place on Saturday afternoon in the streets of Bellinzona, in southern Switzerland. In response to a call from Ticino farmers exasperated by the damage caused by wolves, farmers accompanied by 300 goats and sheep made their way through the town centre.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Thanks to the mild, sunny weather, a large crowd turned out for the protest. Organised by the Groupe Territoire et Alpages (Land and Alpine Pastures Group), made up of a number of associations in the sector and an umbrella group of veterinary services, the protest was intended to draw attention to the difficult situation of Ticinese alpine pastures.

According to the organisers, the pastures are not sufficiently protected by the cantonal authorities. According to recent estimates, 74% of sheep pastures and 79% of goat pastures are not protected at night.

A difficult year for farmers

The year 2025 was a difficult one for sheep and goat farmers, many of whom live at high altitudes and are faced with ever-increasing wolf predation on their land. This situation has led to the evacuation of certain mountain pastures that “will probably never be used again”, said the organisers.

+ How many wolves are good for Switzerland?

In their view, the proliferation of wolves in Ticino is being encouraged by ineffective management on the part of the authorities, and legislative reforms are urgently needed. A popular petition addressed to the Swiss government was launched on October 2.

Eleven fallow deer killed in their enclosure

Meanwhile, on Saturday morning, 11 privately-owned fallow deer were found dead in their enclosure in Bironico at the foot of Monte Ceneri. According to the local press, the fatal wounds were caused by “one or more canids”, but we will have to wait for the results of the autopsy to find out if the attack was indeed caused by a wolf.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail].