Grisons gets federal go-ahead to cull twelve wolf packs

The canton of Graubünden will be able to proactively regulate twelve wolf packs starting September 1. The Federal Office for the Environment approved the request submitted by the canton in July, the cantonal Office for Hunting and Fishing announced on Friday.

The number of packs involved could rise to sixteen if the birth of new cubs is confirmed in the coming months. In packs with cubs, up to two-thirds of the young may be culled. For the Calderas pack, in central Graubünden, the canton also obtained approval for the complete removal of the pack, following repeated attacks on protected livestock.

The role of hunters

As in previous years, hunters from Graubünden will take part during the main and special hunting seasons. Instructions will be published on the website of the Office for Hunting and Fishing and sent by text message to those authorised to act.

The regulation will remain in force from September 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027. A final assessment will only be possible at the end of the alpine grazing season, once the effects of the interventions on the packs involved can be measured.

The office's co-director, Adrian Arquint, described the goal as management that protects both livestock and the protected species. That balance falls mainly on those who work in the mountains: farmers who bring their livestock to alpine pastures depend on its safety for their income, while protection of the wolf remains a legal obligation the canton must respect even when it intervenes.

Questions remain about the transparency of the process: how the criteria for deciding which cubs to cull in each pack will be made public, and how much weight the outcome of the next grazing season will carry in confirming or adjusting the strategy. These are questions that arise in every Alpine canton having to reconcile the protection of livestock with that of a legally protected species.