For 22 years, Oskar Reichenbach has been responsible in the municipality of Lauenen for receiving and counting mouse tails in mid-November on behalf of the municipality and paying one franc per tail. Even after all these years, this November he too was surprised: "This year was an absolute record year," he told the Anzeiger von Saanen. In 2019 almost 9,000 mousetails were collected in – this year there were over 14,000. Reichenbach attributes this to the fact that there were more mice, which made it easier to catch them.

Young and old participated in the hunt for the small rodents in Lauenen. Two children, for example, caught almost 500 mice with their grandmother's 34 mousetraps – now planning to finance a table football table at their grandma's home with the revenue. Rudolf Brand is also enthusiastic about hunting mice: "Since I retired, I've been hunting mice as a hobby and trying to help farmers fight them. I also enjoy being out in the fresh air and getting some exercise." Taking care of his 30 or so mousetraps keeps him busy. Brand is this year's record holder with 1904 mice caught.

Decimating the rodents is of great importance for agriculture. Reichenbach: "A single female gives birth to up to a hundred young in her lifetime. You can imagine it like this: Of the 14,000 mice captured, about half would have given birth to 100 young each ... That is why hunting mice can really make a difference.” The smaller the number of mice, the less damage to the roots of seedlings and meadows. Brand therefore sees the most important task of his leisure time activities in protecting agriculture. Money is not his driving motivation but: "Mousing does yield some pocket money towards the end of the year, which we distribute amongst our many children and grandchildren. "

Based on AvS/Nadine Hager