Since the beginning of the alpine season, wolf attacks on herds of sheep have occurred regularly, writes the canton in a statement on Tuesday. In Goms, for example, more than ten sheep had been killed in the Alps in a protected situation or in an unreasonably protectable area by July 16.
According to the canton, the requirements for ordering a shooting in accordance with the revised Hunting Ordinance to the Federal Hunting Act, which came into force on July 15, 2021, were met. In accordance with the Wolf Switzerland concept, the hunted large carnivore was brought to the Institute for Animal Pathology at the University of Bern for diagnosis and identification. Since 2006, the Valais Department for Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife, according to its own information, has hunted five wolves out of eleven shooting permits issued.
In the Val d’Hérens in the canton of Valais, wolves are said to have killed at least 35 sheep in July alone. The local authorities therefore asked the canton on Tuesday to be allowed to shoot one or more wolves.
The canton of Graubünden announced a week ago after numerous rifts of farm animals in various Alps that they wanted to kill at least one wolf. The canton of Vaud applied to the federal government on Monday to shoot two young wolves after several confirmed attacks on cattle in the Vaud Jura.