Photo: ©2009 WWF/Klein Hubet
BERN, SWITZERLAND – WWF Switzerland is counting two environmental battles won this week. Its fight to see Valais respect the Bern International Treaty that covers the protection of wolves, an endangered species, resulted in a decision by the Sion district tribunal 13 December to condemn former cantonal councilor Jean-René Fournier to 60 days community service, with the sentence suspended.
Fournier is no longer in the cantonal government but represents Valais in the upper house of the Swiss parliament.
Valais should start adding shepherds, dogs to sheep herds, says WWF
The decision relates to the 2006 death of a wolf that had killed 30 sheep in Valais. Fournier approved the permit to shoot the animal and after its death he stuffed it and had it on display in his office, despite the international ban to which Switzerland is party.
Update 15 March /A 32-year-old woman, Candice Berner, appears to have been the victim of a wolf attack, which if confirmed would be the first deadly attack by wolves in the US in 50 years, according to the BBC. Berner, a special education teacher, was jogging by herself near a small village in the Alaska Peninsula, Chignik Lake, which is 475 miles southwest of Anchorage. Her body was found by snowmobilers and the tracks around the body were those of wolves. It appears that two or three animals were responsible and that Berner, who was training for a long distance race and was very fit, put up a strong fight.
A criminal death was ruled out and officials believe it is likely wolves, whom residents had said were aggressive recently, are to blame. State troopers in Alaska told KTVA television that this is the first such death they recall or have had to record.
Berger wrote a rich blog about her life as a teacher in Alaska, notes reporter Julia O’Malley in a feature article in the Anchorage Daily News.
Links to other sites: CNN, Fairbanks Newsminer, KTVA
Stamford Bridge, London (GenevaLunch) – The English internationals Frank Lampard and John Terry shook off any fatigue from their mid-week match against Egypt to beat Stoke 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Aston Villa came back from 2-0 down to win 2-4 thanks to a hat-trick by their Norwegian striker John Carew. They will meet Chelsea in the semi-finals.
Title: Conference and slide show: Canada land of wolves
Location: Morges, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: A conference and slide show in French by naturalist photographer Olivier Gilliéron.
Date: 24 Sep 2009
Wolves (image: © Klein & Hubert/WWF)
Sion, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A wolf was shot in the Val d’Illiez, canton Valais early Thursday 20 August, just a day after WWF Switzerland and Pro Natura announced they are making a legal appeal against canton Valais’s July decision to allow two wolves to be shot and a decision by Lucerne to shoot one. “We will go ahead with our appeal in the hope that, thanks to a future decision by the tribunal the wolves will be better protected in the future,” says Kurt Eichenberger, head of biodiversity for WWF Switzerland.
WWF Switzerland says the canton’s procedures for making the decision to kill is flawed.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss hunting laws will be revised by the federal department for the environment because of significant changes in the past 20 years to the wildlife population and the growth of popular sports, which have an impact on wildlife habitats.
