The Swiss canton of Valais has already reached half of its wolf hunting target, shooting 17 of the animals in 18 days since active wolf hunting opened on December 1.

The Department of Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife was “satisfied” with this result, it announced on Monday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.

In November, the State Council declared that the operation would be a “great success” if the canton managed to get “between ten and 15” in the next two months. With 17 animals killed, the canton has now shot half of the wolves it was targeting in just under three weeks. …