Wild animal Switzerland

WILDLIFE SWITZERLAND
purpose	Passing on of wild animal biological and ecological information
Chair:	Hans Schmid (President)
Establishment date:	January 1, 1982 (as Wildlife Biology & Ecology Information Service )
Seat :	Zurich
Website:	wildtier.ch

Wildtier Schweiz ( spelling WILDTIER SCHWEIZ ) is a recognized non-profit association under Swiss law with its headquarters in Zurich , with the aim of supporting the transfer of knowledge from research to practical implementation in the field of wildlife and nature conservation biology and to convey practical questions to researchers .

history

In the 1950s, a working group at the Zoological Institute of the University of Zurich began to study wild animals in their habitats using biological-ecological questions and scientific methods. The impetus for this often came from practice, where one was confronted with wildlife diseases, high browsing and protection forest problems or strongly declining populations. The search for solutions forced studies on space / time behavior and population dynamics, as well as on challenges and adaptations to a wide variety of habitats. Based on the results, measures to improve the habitat and to protect and manage the respective animal species followed.

Right at the beginning of the research work, a large gap was identified: scientific literature on wild animals could only be found and obtained with extremely high effort. It was divided into journals from different disciplines, from biology to forestry to veterinary medicine and zoology. As a remedy, employees of the University of Zurich and the predecessor of what is now the Federal Office for the Environment founded the Swiss Documentation Center for Wildlife Research SDW / the Swiss Wildlife Information Service SWIS in 1971 with the mandate “One researches and collects for all”.

Another step was necessary so that the collected knowledge is not only available to researchers, but important information reaches practice: The knowledge from basic and solution-oriented research had to be made usable for practice as well as for non-wildlife biologists. This is all the more important as wild animals and their specific habitat requirements are influenced and affected by many activities in other specialist areas (agriculture and forestry, hydraulic engineering, spatial and transport planning, etc.). As a mediator between research and practice, the Wildlife Biology & Ecology Information Service (now Wildtier Schweiz) was founded in 1982 .

organization

The organization (1982–2003 under the name Infodienst Wildbiologie & Ökologie ) has existed since January 1, 1982 as an association within the meaning of Art. 60ff ZGB . The activities of the association are of general public interest, which is why the government council of the canton of Zurich granted it non-profit status in 1986 . Wildlife Switzerland is certified by the Central Agency for Welfare Enterprises (ZEWO).

activities

The association looks after the Swiss Wildlife Information Service (SWIS) and maintains literature databases and archives on wild biology topics.

Furthermore, he operates and maintains the Federal Hunting and Fishing Statistics and leads wildlife monitoring projects such as the Deer Marking Switzerland project.

He creates and maintains interactive websites such as Bearded Vultures - Reintroduction in the Alps , Wildruhe Zonen.ch or the Tierforscher.ch website for children and young people.

The Swiss Society for Wildlife Biology (SGW-SSBF) is also based here .

The association is supported by organizations such as the Swiss Academy of Sciences , the Zurich Animal Welfare Association, the Hunting and Fisheries Administrators' Conference and JagdSchweiz .