From German Media (translation)
The sight of the destroyed, sawn-down hunting high seat, which lies on the ground on the country road between Rheinfelden and Möhlin, annoys Willy Itin, hunting supervisor in the Rheinfelden area. “2000 francs are over,” he says and adds: “It’s a bottomless impudence – just destroying someone else’s property.” With red paint, the alleged perpetrator has sprayed her abbreviation on the high seat: “ALF” – Animal Liberation Front; to German: Animal Liberation Front.
Their goal is to prevent animal testing and killing of animals. This is done, for example, by attacks on laboratories and animal farms by means of sabotage or arson attacks. Danger to life and a queasy feeling It is hard to imagine, according to Itin, what could have happened if the perpetrators had only sawn on the stilts or the ladder and a hunter in the seat had fallen as a result.
He says: In the worst case, you can break your back – or a shot can come loose.” In general, it would be anything but easy for hunting today to fulfill its mission of keeping game damage to a minimum. “Animal rights activists don’t want us to hunt anymore and according to some farmers, we can’t hunt often enough,” says Itin.
Two more high seats destroyed It was not the only action against the hunting parties in the lower Fricktal in the night from Saturday to Sunday.
Also in the hunting ground Möhlin-Süd in the Röti area at the foot of the Sonnenberg tower, the ALF allegedly sawed a high seat, a third fell near the brewery Feldschlösschen in the hunting ground Olsberg. In the past, the three hunting societies had no problems with the said animal liberation front. In principle, one could be against hunting, says Paul Mahrer, deputy supervisor in the Möhlin Süd district. But: “You should then please collect signatures, but not commit a crime.”
In the future, you have to check carefully whether the high seat is not manipulated before you climb on it, warns Mahrer. He hopes that the police can identify the perpetrators and that they will have to bear the costs on which the hunting party would otherwise remain seated.
The other hunting societies also hope for this in unison. Thus, the reassembly is not only associated with costs, but also with time and work.
Police have started the investigation Yesterday afternoon, it was still unclear whether further high seats had been destroyed. As Corina Winkler, spokeswoman for the cantonal police, says, the police have started the investigation and secured the first traces.
Call for witnesses Persons who have noticed suspicious persons in the vicinity of the crime scenes from Saturday to Sunday are asked to report for information by telephone…