In the past 25 years, 128 wolves have been found dead in Switzerland. Some 54 were legally shot, 38 died in traffic collisions and 11 were poached.
This means that almost half of the wolves (42%) were legally shot, as the Federal Office for the Environment announced at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency on Wednesday evening. It confirmed a report by SRF Rundschau.
The Federal Office cited work by the University of Bern, which investigated the causes of death of the 128 dead wolves.
In addition to the 11 poached wolves, attempted poaching was found in eight cases: in five legally hunted predators and in three run-over wolves, investigations showed ammunition residue from illegal gunshots.
In addition, since the evaluations began in 1998, four wolves died from falls, three drowned, two were hit by an avalanche, two died in fights with other wolves, and the cause of death for six animals is unclear.