Geneva urged to use contraception not bullets to curb deer

More than 20,000 signatures have already been collected for a petition launched two days ago against the shooting of deer in the forests of Versoix Keystone / Neil Hall

The growing population of roe deer, stags and wild boars in Geneva should be curbed not with bullets but with contraception. This is what the animal protection association Animal Equité is demanding from the cantonal government.

The organisation is calling on the Geneva cantonal government to stop shootings of wild animals and to carry out a pilot study to test the effectiveness of a vaccine for contraception. The animal rights activists were reacting to a decision by State Councillor Antonio Hodgers to have deer shot in the forests of Versoix in the near future.

The association said it was absolutely against these shootings, which it said would also violate cantonal law. According to the current law, shooting of animals that cause damage can only be authorised after “exhaustion of preventive measures”, the association stated.

In the present case, the government had by far not exhausted the measures aimed at reducing animal populations, for example, before considering shooting.

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Hunting bans

Unlike in the rest of Switzerland, hunting of mammals and birds has been banned in canton Geneva since 1974. Since a change in the law, however, the canton has been allowed to regulate animal populations. The cantonal government can decide on appropriate measures independently and without the necessary approval of a commission made up of representatives of animal protection and nature conservation.

The animal protection organisation Animal Equité also pointed out that many countries, including in the European Union, rely on a vaccine for prevention. This would allow them to stabilise or reduce their populations of wild animals, especially wild boar and deer.

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This method was proposed to the cantonal authorities several times without success, criticises Animal Equité. The reason given was that it was better to let the animals live out their reproductive urges and kill surplus animals than to inhibit their reproductive cycles.

More than 20,000 signatures have already been collected for a petition launched two days ago against the shooting of deer in the forests of Versoix.

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