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Starting in 2021, only Valais hunters or those with a Valais hunting license will be able to hunt ibex.
Starting next year, foreigners will no longer be able to hunt mountain goat trophies in Valais. Only hunters who reside in the Canton of Valais or those with a Valais hunting license can hunt ibex.
The canton of Valais decided on this new regulation as part of a five-year resolution, as it announced on Friday. Last fall, media reports of wealthy foreigners shooting ibex in Valais sparked controversy. Around 70,000 people signed a petition calling for a ban on trophy hunting.
Interest in ibex hunting in Valais has always been great and the waiting list is long. The hunters came from Switzerland, but also from Germany, Spain, Italy and even the United States and South America.
Lucrative business
They were able to obtain the so-called daily permit in Valais and shoot ibex in the company of a ranger. Depending on the length of the horns, they paid up to 20,000 Swiss francs for it.
For the mountain canton, trophy hunting has so far been a lucrative affair. It earned him several hundred thousand francs a year.
From the canton’s point of view, the new hunting regime also has advantages. Since the rangers no longer have to take care of foreign hunters, they can take more and more care of large carnivores. This effort has increased significantly in recent years, particularly due to wolf breeding.
Another 25 permits for foreigners
The mountain goat safari is not over yet. For this year, the Department of Game, Fish and Wildlife (DJFW) has issued 45 special hunting permits per day. 25 of these go to foreign hunters.
In total, this year a maximum of 544 ibex, 269 goats and 275 goats should be hunted. Of these, 323 are hunted by Valais hunters as part of regular statutory hunting.
The remaining contingent will be eliminated with daytime hunting permits, patent shots and any hunting shots by the hunting guard, it says in the statement. The Federal Office for the Environment (Bafu) approved the shooting of 56 old goats (11 years and older).
Depending on the canton, the mountain goat population is healthier and larger than ever. In 2019, the Valais rangers posted a new record of 6,030 ibex. This indicates a reproductive system that works biologically well.
No suede decision
While the ibex is no longer a target for foreign hunters, the Council of State has yet to make a decision on the chamois.
Peter Scheibler, Head of the Department of Game, Fish and Wildlife, assumes that the practice of ibex will also apply to chamois. But a formal decision has yet to be made, he told the Keystone-SDA news agency upon request.
