August 21, 2024 – 10:11 AM
Sweden has issued shooting permits for 20% of the country's brown bear population, or about 500 bears, at the start of the hunting season.
A Guardian Swedish conservationists count the number of hunting permits issued, he writes, and according to them it is just trophy hunting.
“Sweden’s wildlife is about killing animals rather than preserving them as best we can”
“It's a great honour,” said Magnus Orbrandt, chairman of the Swedish Carnivore Association.
Brown bears were hunted to near extinction in Sweden in the 1920s, The Guardian writes. However, more attention was paid to careful wildlife management after that, so the population peaked at around 3,300 in 2008. However, in the past five years, more and more bears have been hunted again, last year, for example, a record 722 bears were shot. With a 20% permit this year, the number of bears in Sweden will fall to 2,000, which is a decrease of almost 40% compared to 2008. If this continues and hunters obtain permits at a similar rate next year, the country will be just one year away from the minimum of 1,400 hunts, which the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency considers necessary to maintain a viable population.
Since the November 2022 law, local hunting associations have been given more power to manage large carnivores, including bear populations. However, hundreds of wolves and lynx have been shot in recent years, raising concerns among environmentalists. According to the Swedish Hunting and Game Management Association, the purpose of bear hunting is only to create a balance between humans and large carnivores.
The brown bear is also a strictly protected species in Europe. Swedish environmentalists say the high hunting quotas violate the EU’s Environmental Protection Directive, which states that “the deliberate hunting or killing of strictly protected species is prohibited.” Under EU rules, the ban can only be lifted as a “last resort”: to protect public safety, crops, and natural flora and fauna.
