Great excitement in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, which borders Austria. As has only just become known, on November 16, a game warden was on a night hunt for three wolf pups that he was supposed to kill. But instead of the wolves, the man shot three lynxes, two of which had only been born this year.
At the time of the incident, the game warden, who has his surveillance area outside the shooting area, was on a wolf control mission in the Surselva region on behalf of the Graubünden Hunting and Fisheries Agency (AJF). He was looking for the remaining three of the eight wolf pups from the “advance package,” which had been released before the shooting in early September.
Confusion despite thermal imaging technology
The three discovered animals were identified at night using thermal imaging technology. The game warden was adamant that he would shoot the three young wolves in question that were in the area. The man immediately reported the incident to his superiors after finding the accidentally killed lynx. The animals shot this year were two young lynx and one adult male lynx.
The criminal consequences are being investigated
The gamekeeper himself filed a report with the Public Prosecution Service in the canton of Graubünden. The circumstances that led to these misfires are being investigated as part of the criminal investigation. The Public Prosecution Service decides on any criminal consequences. “We deeply regret the incident and will investigate it in detail,” Adrian Arquint, head of the AJF, said in a statement from the canton of Graubünden. The office is aware that something like this should not happen. The AJF immediately banned the game warden from wolf regulation until the incident is fully cleared up.
Will there be new lynxes?
The Eurasian lynx is protected in Switzerland by federal law and is considered a species of very high national priority. At least seven lynx births were confirmed in the canton of Graubünden in the summer of 2024, but individual failures – such as those caused by the current incident – could affect the population structure, according to the Graubünden Hunting and Fisheries Agency. The canton is therefore now investigating, together with the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), whether the damage to the population should be compensated by a one-off resettlement of a comparable number of lynx from another area.
Source: Krone
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