Ibex hunting attracted wealthy foreign hunters to Valais until 2021.
Rundschau, November 6th, 2019
From next year, Valais will once again allow foreign hunters and hunters from other cantons to shoot ibexes. This practice, which was suspended in 2021, was reviewed and reintroduced. It should make it possible to regulate the growing population of these animals.
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December 17, 2024 – 3:00 p.m.
The affair caused a great stir. Rich foreign people came to Valais to hunt ibexes and were prepared to pay up to 25,000 francs to kill just one of these animals. The longer their horns were, the higher the price.
These hunting scenes, broadcast in the SRF program Rundschau and on RTS, sparked a lively debate, with 70,000 people signing a petition calling for a ban on this practice in Valais.
The canton reacted by introducing a ban in 2021. Since then, people coming from abroad or from another canton could no longer hunt ibexes in Valais. But this will change, because the canton has decided to lift this ban.
A record number of bouquets
Valais hunters will therefore no longer be the only ones able to shoot ibexes. From 2025, people from other cantons or abroad will be able to hunt it again. The reason: the excessive number of these animals.
7,000 ibexes were recorded in Valais in 2024, a record.
KEYSTONE/Anthony Anex
“Valais wildlife wardens counted more than 7,000 animals this year, which constitutes a record,” indicates the canton of Valais. According to him, this situation is not tenable. It is therefore appropriate to regulate the workforce.
On the one hand, to reduce competition with other species, such as chamois. On the other hand, “to minimize the damage that ibexes cause to forests and crops”.
Prohibit hunting for “trophies”
The controversial “trophy” hunt and its costly patents should, however, be banned. The competent department has established certain rules in this regard:
- Agencies specializing in hunting trips will be banned.
- It is the age and no longer the length of the horns which will determine the cost of slaughter.
- Foreigners will only be able to slaughter males over 11 years old.
- They will pay the entire tax directly to the canton before the shooting.
- Hunters must hold a recognized hunting license.
- They will be accompanied by a game warden who will decide which animal should be slaughtered.
The canton emphasizes that foreign customers are thus subject to the same directives as locals. Valais hunters can currently hunt outside the canton, and the reverse should be possible again. However, foreign customers will pay more for the shots than locals.
Existing legal basis
The head of the Valais Hunting Service, Nicolas Bourquin, had already raised the question of lifting the ban in the past.
According to him, the ibex populations must be regulated in any case, the arrival of foreign hunters ready to pay more money could generate welcome revenue for the canton.
But he already stressed at the time: “If we had to do it again, it would no longer be through agencies specializing in ‘trophy’ hunting trips.”
KEYSTONE/Anthony Anex
Despite the announced restrictions, this declaration again aroused criticism. “The regulation of the ibex by local hunters works very well”, underlined the environmentalist MP Brigitte Wolf, expressing indignation at the idea of reintroducing the hunt for ibex “trophies”.
Today, she says the proposal is better than then. According to her, however, we must see what makes sense from the point of view of wildlife biology.
And that’s where biologist Brigitte Wolf sees a problem. “The slaughter of old goats is very delicate, because they are important for reproduction and the cohesion of the pack.”
From a purely legal point of view, the canton can reopen trophy hunting to foreign customers.
Translated from German using DeepL/dbu
