25 animals to die Canton Valais wants to release four wolf packs for shooting

Valais wants to release four of the eleven wolf packs in the canton for shooting and has applied for approval from the federal government. The four packs consist of 25 individual animals.

The canton of Valais has applied to the Federal Office for the Environment for approval to shoot four packs of around 25 wolves. The entire wolf population was estimated at eleven packs, which corresponds to 90 to 120 individual animals, as the canton announced on Thursday.

The aim is "to effectively minimize conflicts in areas where wolves show or have shown problems in their behaviour towards humans or in their predatory behaviour towards livestock", as the canton of Valais went on to write in the press release.

According to the canton, the affected animals are the Nanz, Augstbord, Hérens-Mandelon and Les Toules packs. "For the other packs, the criteria for proactive regulation are not currently met," the canton's Department of Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife continued. This first application for regulation "may be supplemented by further applications depending on how the situation develops".