The White House was criticized for being slow to release information about the incident but Harry Whittington said he bore no ill will about being shot.

Bart Jansen

USA TODAY

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/04/dick-cheney-hunting-accident-shot/87082851007/

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WASHINGTON – Dick Cheney was an unapologetic hawk in military affairs as defense secretary and vice president, but his shooting an acquaintance in a hunting accident became a source of ridicule.

Cheney, who died Nov. 3 at 84, was hunting quail in South Texas in February 2006 when he accidentally shot fellow hunter Harry Whittington in the face, neck and torso with bird shot from a .28-gauge shotgun. Whittington had been retrieving a downed bird when another covey took flight and Cheney fired.

Cheney told Fox News that the accident was “one of the worst days of my life” and accepted full blame for the accident. He also defended the delay in disclosing the event until the next day.

Then-President George W. Bush said Cheney handled the incident “just fine.” But then-Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the White House needed to be less secretive.

Whittington, a prominent Austin lawyer who was 78 at the time of the hunting accident, said the wounds he suffered did not slow him down but that some of the pellets remained embedded in him. He also suffered a minor heart attack while recovering.

“I’m able to navigate and get around. I still have a lot of ‘quiet pellets,’ but some of them had to be lifted and removed,” said Whittington, who died in 2023 at 95.

In a 2018 interview with the USA TODAY Network that coincided with the release of the Cheney biopic, “Vice,” Whittington said he remained in touch with the former vice president and harbored no ill will.

“He and I went to dinner,” said Whittington, who called the movie’s account of the shooting inaccurate and misleading. “We’re just acquaintances.”

The Caller-Times newspaper in Corpus Christi, now a member of the USA TODAY Network, broke the news about the accident after being notified by Katharine Armstrong, a member of the family that owned the hunting ranch.

Cheney later told Fox News that notifying the local news outlet was “just as valid” as The New York Times.

In Switzerland, over one hundred thousand wild animals are killed every year, mostly senselessly, through recreational hunting.

Editorial staff , November 3, 2025

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According to official statistics, in 2024 alone there were over 130,000 animals, including deer, roe deer, foxes, chamois or wild boar.

In addition, there are countless birds and undocumented cases of wounded animals dying agonizing deaths. Recreational hunting remains a relic of past centuries, a bloody pastime disguised as “tradition” and politically well-protected.

With around 30,000 members, the Swiss hunting community is well-organized and exceptionally well-connected. Its militant umbrella organization, Jagd Schweiz (Hunting Switzerland), explicitly sees itself as a political force that “actively participates in all hunting policy matters.” This means: an interest group with direct access to authorities, commissions, and parliaments—a prime example of how lobbying undermines animal welfare and environmental protection.

In Bern, the federal capital, and in the cantons, numerous poorly trained amateur hunters occupy key political positions in hunting administrations, commissions, or even in the legislative process itself. This is a classic case of the fox guarding the henhouse. Critical voices are marginalized, while the hunting lobby systematically spreads narratives ranging from the “necessary intervention in the ecological balance” to the supposed “duty to protect wildlife.” Little of this is scientifically sound.

Legislation in favor of hobby hunters

The 2020 revision of the hunting law exemplified how far politicians are willing to go in accommodating the demands of recreational hunting. The plan at the time was to allow the preventative culling of strictly protected species such as wolves, lynxes, and beavers, even without any concrete evidence of damage. This plan was only stopped thanks to a referendum.

But barely five years later, the Federal Council has once again opened a loophole with the new 2025 hunting regulations. Livestock protection measures have been weakened, and the regulations governing culling have been simplified. The wolf, in particular, is once again in the crosshairs. Animal welfare and environmental organizations are calling it a step back to the 19th century.

The message is clear: Politics continues to protect the hobby of a few, at the expense of animals and the ecological balance.

Scandals and questionable practices

• Ticino 2022: The canton permitted the shooting of lactating female deer. The calves were inevitably left behind. The calves were thus doomed to die. A clear violation of animal welfare principles.
• Animal suffering caused by stray shots: According to animal welfare reports, hundreds of animals are found injured every year. “Hit shots,” shots that don’t kill instantly, cause massive, often invisible suffering. Hobby hunters are the worst shots of all active firearm users.
• Hunting accidents: Since 2000, dozens of fatal hunting accidents have been recorded in Switzerland. A risk not only for animals, but also for humans.

Despite these facts, the myth of the “responsible hobby hunter” remains politically untouchable.

Hunters repeatedly emphasize their supposed “commitment to wildlife management.” However, in today’s context, wildlife management often means nothing more than arbitrary population control, not ecological necessity. Wild animals are culled to ensure a specific prey pattern. In regions with intensive feeding, game is even artificially “managed” to drive it into the hunters’ line of fire in the autumn.

Ecological relationships, natural regulation by predators, and modern wildlife management concepts are systematically ignored. Science has long since moved beyond this, while politicians remain in cahoots with the hunting lobby.

Recreational hunting primarily serves the interests of a well-connected minority. Animals become pawns in a political game that values ​​power and influence more highly than ethical standards or modern ecological concepts.

Switzerland prides itself on its direct democracy. But when it comes to recreational hunting, a different picture emerges: A small, influential minority decides over the life and death of tens of thousands of wild animals. The rest of the population is kept in check with myths, hunters’ tales, and fear campaigns about predators.

As long as political parties, administration and legislation prioritize hunting interests over animal welfare, ethics and science, the question remains: Who protects the animals from politics?

Because as long as the hobby of a few remains glorified as “tradition” and legally privileged, it will continue to be the wild animals that pay the price with their lives.