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There are practically no lynxes in southern Valais. Although living conditions are ideal, last year not a single animal stumbled upon one of the more than 130 photographic traps set up by the Kora Foundation south of the Rhone.
The suspicion: poachers kill protected animals as soon as they enter the canton of the mountains. Five years ago, researchers from the University of Bern discovered a total of 17 booby traps that had been placed on the border with Vaud.
Government employees under suspicion
Even then, investigators wondered if Valais authorities are adequately combating poaching, or if the canton is even holding out its protective hand over poachers. This now appears to be confirmed: VIEW has spoken to several witnesses reporting exactly that. According to his report, the problem is much more serious. They claim: several rangers, state employees, have illegally hunted bobcats and wolves themselves!
A total of five people were willing to provide information to BLICK personally. One asset and two former Wallis rangers are charged with poaching.
In particular, Ranger Pierre D. *, who is still on duty, is not a blank slate. Several criminal proceedings are currently underway against Lower Valais. He is accused of having two jailed eagles in his home and illegally shooting a deer in a no-go hunting area while conducting a trophy hunt.
Ranger poses with a dead lynx
Now the air is getting even thinner for Pierre D. BLICK is a photo of him holding a dead lynx in his hands and smiling broadly at the camera. It is unclear whether he killed the animal himself.
The poaching charge against D. weighs heavily: for example, a hunter who, out of fear of retaliation from the authorities, does not want to be named by name, says that D. repeatedly asked him to shoot lynxes. “He said it was our job to destroy the predators in Valais.”
In addition, the ranger organized a real wolf hunt ten years ago: “When he learned that a wolf was roaming the Alps, he immediately alerted us and ordered us to shoot the animal,” says the hunter. Later, D. appeared armed in the same alp. ‘I was completely stunned. It was as if a police officer had advised me to drive over 120 km / h. “
Because rangers are normally responsible for protecting wild animals. They count stocks and shoot sick and injured animals. Also protected, but only after an official decision of the canton in accordance with the Hunting Law Ordinance.
Predatory-hostile mood
If witness testimony is to be believed, there is a conspiratorial group among the 25 professional rangers and 118 non-state aid rangers, as well as the 3,000 hunters: they tolerate poaching of large carnivores and even encourage it.
Former ranger Martin R. * is under fire, along with Pierre D. Even if the Lower Valais man only works as an assistant ranger, he still pretends to be a full-fledged state ranger. The two nature photographers Stéphane Bruchez (52) and Olivier Born (48) report independently.
R. stopped them both during a photographic excursion and criticized the large carnivores: “Mr. R. explained to us bluntly that in the Lower Valais they don’t want lynx, they shoot them,” says Bruchez.
Former gamekeeper Bernard M. * also reportedly doesn’t hide his aversion to predators. A witness working as a farmer in Lower Valais says: ‘M. he shot a lynx as a ranger and told everyone who wanted to hear it. “Now he continues to hunt like a private,” with the dream of shooting many more large carnivores. “
No isolated cases
Such statements confirm the warnings of opponents of the new hunting law. They fear that if they say yes on September 27, the large carnivores in Valais could simply be wiped out entirely. Because the new law gives more power to the cantons and allows wolves to be killed before the animals cause harm.
The fact that the three park rangers are not curious individual cases is also underlined by the statement of an employee of the cantonal hunting, fishing and wildlife agency on the program “Mise au point” on the French-speaking Swiss television RTS. The man anonymously confesses that he has already shot a lynx and that for a long time the maxim was applied at the police station: “A good lynx is a dead lynx.”
The accused are silent
Poaching state employees in Valais? BLICK has confronted both the three rangers and the authorities with the accusations. None of the rangers want to comment.
Instead, the Valais State Councilor Jacques Melly (68, CVP) and the head of the cantonal hunting, fishing and wildlife department, Peter Scheibler, respond in a joint message: “The department is not aware of such incidents.” . Condemn any form of poaching in the strongest terms and file a criminal complaint in case of relevant criminal behavior.
The hunting agency has already reacted to the anonymous testimony on RTS. The hunters wrote: “On August 24, based on a specific allegation of lynx poaching in a media report, we filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons.”
Christian merz
The Valais government illegally released a wolf for shooting in 2018. This is the verdict of the Valais cantonal court.
Specifically, it is a wolf in Val d’Anniviers, which the State Councilor of the Ministry of the Environment, Jacques Melly (68, CVP) had released to shoot in September 2018. Melly’s reason: it is said that the predator killed at least 39 sheep and caused several damages the previous year.
For a single wolf to be euthanized, as in the present case, it must kill at least 15 farm animals according to current legislation. However, only farm animals that have been adequately protected enter the statistics.
This is where whistleblowers from WWF, Pro Natura and the Federal Office for the Environment (Bafu) come in: they said the Valais government’s argument that it was not possible to protect all sheep with guard dogs or herders for economic and tourist reasons . incorrect.
The cantonal judges agreed with the environmentalists. It is “incomprehensible” why the affected Alps “could not be protected”, they write in the sentence. It is also “incomprehensible” that the Valais government issued a license to shoot a single wolf after the presence of a pack was proven in the valley the previous year.
The judges conclude in the ruling: “The approval for the shooting was contrary to federal law and should not have been granted.”
By the way, the wolf was not killed. The authorities did not put the animal under the weapon.
