Over 20,000 wildlife accidents occur year after year on Swiss roads and railways. Hobby hunting causes wildlife to be pushed into unfamiliar areas. More about wildlife in Switzerland.
20,000 wildlife accidents per year
Over 20’000 wildlife accidents occur year after year on Swiss roads and railways.
The increasingly fragmented landscape is life-threatening for red deer, badgers and other species. Pro Natura has therefore launched a campaign under the motto “Clear the Way for Wildlife!” in support of undisturbed movement corridors for wild animals.
Wildlife must migrate to survive. Along their traditional migration routes, they move between resting places, feeding grounds, and retreats, between summer and winter habitats, or to their breeding grounds. These connecting corridors between their habitats are vital to ensure that populations of red deer, roe deer, and other migratory species remain genetically healthy and that forests are spared from excessive browsing.
Wildlife migration routes disrupted
In Switzerland, wildlife migration routes — known as wildlife corridors — are severely disrupted: of 304 supra-regional wildlife corridors, 75 percent are impaired or completely severed. They are cut through by roads, motorways, railway lines, or settlements. This is not without consequences. On average, over 20’000 wildlife accidents occur each year on Swiss roads and railways. The costs of these accidents are estimated at 40 to 50 million Swiss francs. Hobby hunting exacerbates the problem by pushing wildlife into unfamiliar areas and further disrupting their natural migration routes.
Clear the Way for Wildlife
With their campaign «Free Passage for Wildlife!» launched today, Pro Natura is advocating for the mobility needs of wild animals. «We demand that interrupted wildlife corridors be restored to full connectivity and that migration barriers be mitigated», says Jan Gürke, coordinator of the «Free Passage for Wildlife!» campaign. He also stressed that the mobility needs of wildlife must be consistently taken into account when planning and constructing infrastructure.
More on the topic of hobby hunting: In our dossier on hunting we compile fact checks, analyses, and background reports.
Exposing the Big Game 