https://www.20min.ch/story/drei-jagd...n-598779177497
I can see how you could mistake a llama for a deer... but how drunk do you need to be to shoot a horse instead of a wild boar?
Better dont go hiking during hunting season.
Within one month have there been three spectacular hunting errors in Switzerland: 2 horses and one llama shot -
Those are a lot better than the hunting "errors" I was used to reading about in the US. There the "errors" usually resulted in shooting people not animals.
Don't know about llamas, but horses are excellent as meat!
Tom
Come on, the subheader lines were great, here they are.
Hope there's something in the law that retires the hunting permit at least for some years if not a lifelong ban.
We do stupid things in cars and lose license from some months to lifetime. The same should apply to guns.
Yes, some years ago a woman was shot and killed in her own yard, mistaken for a deer:
https://newengland.com/today/living/...ory/karenwood/
Tom
Hunting is a cantonal matter, so I would not be terribly surprised if you can lose your license in canton a and then apply for a new one in canton b.
May be an urban myth, but I heard the story of a farmer that got fed up with his animals being shot every hunting season.
So he got out some florescent paint and painted COW on the cow, SHEEP on the sheep, DOG on old rover, etc.
Worked for a while but then the hunters shot his tractor. It was a John DEER.
If you are a resident ...
The Geneva way is far the best all round. No Hunting- but professional wildlife guards and highly trained in ecology and shooting. They know every corner of the Canton, every herd and beast, and do what has to be done, cleanly and safely.
Mind you, I know many hunters here in NE Jura- and they are a good bunch, experienced and good shots, and never drink when out until the guns are out of the way. Not for me ... but ....
A Swiss hunting license is one of the most difficult to obtain in Europe. It takes 2 years theoretical plus practical experience. You need to know all about varioius kinds of animals, learn how to read signs left by such beasties and a whole lot of other things.
If you have a hunting license it's registered at both Federal and Cantonal levels, bit like a driving license only harder and longer to obtain and regain in the case of suspension.
So are llamas
In a few years they will be older and have worse eyesight. They will definitely mistake an elephant for a rabbit then
It's all very reminiscent of this...
And they still can’t tell the difference between the animals they are allowed to hunt and horses and llamas.
If a wolf had done that, the hunters (at least those round here) would be screaming for it to be shot.....
The case of the Llama in Muotathal is particularly upsetting because the llama was a working livestock guardian, there to protect 'his' flock of sheep from wolves.
Conservationists have long been working with farmers to find alternative methods to protect their livestock from wolf predation, as no one wants to see the wolves hunted into near extinction again. Livestock guardians, most often llamas or maremma dogs, have been a quite successful solution that finds the balance between the needs of the farmers and those of conservationists.
A livestock guardian animal is raised with the flock from babyhood, lives with them; the guardian thinks of himself as part of the herd, hence the instinct to protect the sheep from predators. It can be both time consuming and expensive to raise a livestock guardian animal to adulthood when the animal can become an effective protector.
That some idiot shot the llama is obviously bad; that the hunter did not even report the incident as required by law is even worse.
I hope for once that serious consequences are meted out. At a minimum the hunter needs to compensate the farmer fully.
I won't hold my breath, however. Swiss laws around animal issues tend to be stringent on paper - but have almost no teeth, and the resources to enforce existing law is often lacking. It is rare that those found guilty of animal welfare offenses face any real consequences.
Hunting in Switzerland is well regulated. More so than in most places.
Getting a license in the first place is not easy.
In both cases the hunters got fined and as far as I have read the one that shot the lama is banned from hunting again.
I think I remember that staff at the summer camp where I worked had a dog with a greenish tint and the senior staff member explained to us that the dog had been painted during hunting season.
Exhaling now.
I am absolutely delighted to be proven wrong!
In a more constructive way, there are hunting season calendars for every canton. This is for Aargau. https://ajv.ch/index.php/50/Jagd/Vor...ten/Jagdzeiten
I'm a bit worried but at least I've seen that some hunters place a "jagd" triangle sign in forest gravel roads. So, when I ride the bike or run just make half turn and go somewhere else.
Anyway, I think I'm getting fluorescent piece of headwear for running.