Last October, Basel City's cantonal parliament approved a plan to build a large marine aquarium. NOzeanium, a committee led by Fondation Franz Weber, called for a referendum against the project and quickly gathered the necessary number of signatures to put the parliament's decision to the vote. TIR is pleased that Basel's voters decided to oppose the "Ozeanium" and congratulates Fondation Franz Weber on this achievement.

TIR was disappointed, however, to hear about the outcome of Graubünden's vote regarding the ban on so-called special hunts ("Sonderjagd"). Graubünden's citizens rejected the proposed ban with 54.23% of the votes thereby deciding to hang on to their dual hunting system. The latter allows hunters to shoot animals for regulatory purposes even outside the official hunting season using highly unethical hunting methods.