Three Alpine Ibex

In the 19th century, the Alpine ibex was virtually extinct. Only in a royal hunting reserve in Italy, around Gran Paradiso, did a healthy population remain, but the king was unwilling to share it. Between 1906 and 1933, Swiss nature lovers secretly bought a total of 59 ibex kids from smugglers in the Aosta Valley and raised and bred them in the Peter and Paul Wildlife Park. Later, some of these ibexes were released into the wild in Graubünden. Today, tens of thousands of ibexes once again live around the Alpine arc. Fritz loved these majestic animals and often painted them, including the three magnificent bucks in this picture.