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https://www.dw.com/en/sweden-o...criticism/a-70007169 Sweden opens brown bear hunting season amid criticism 4 hours ago Sweden has opened this year's brown bear hunting season, with a total of 486 animals nationwide permitted to be killed this summer. But animal welfare activists warn populations are dwindling. Sweden's annual brown bear hunting season began on Wednesday, with the country's environmental protection agency saying a total of 486 animals could be shot this year. But animal welfare groups are warning that the quotas are too high and say that this year's hunting would result in a 20% drop in the brown bear population. "If you want the population to remain stable at around the 2,400 animals we estimate today, you can only shoot about 250 bears annually," said ecologist Jonas Kindberg from a Swedish-Norwegian bear preservation project. He said that killing nearer 500 animals "can quickly have major consequences that can become critical for the bear population." Strict hunting quotas set each season Sweden has strict regional controls on hunting large predators like wolves and bears, with local areas setting quotas for the number of animals that can be killed each season. The stated aim of the hunt is to regulate population numbers, and prevent harm to domestic animals and reindeer. These quotas are often met very quickly as hunting enthusiasts rush to participate. The Svenska Jakt hunting journal reported on Wednesday that more than 70 bears had been killed in the opening hours of the season. One region, Varmland to the west of Stockholm, had already called off its hunt by roughly lunchtime after the three bears it allocated had been killed, the same journal reported. Seventy percent of Sweden is covered in forests, well above average for Europe, and the wintery country retains populations of wild predators like wolves, wolverines, brown bears and lynx. Quotas falling, but so is the estimated bear population Brown bear hunting season in Sweden lasts either until October 15, or until the 486 permitted animals have been shot. Last year's quota was a record high, at 649 animals, while it was 622 in 2022 and 501 in 2021. The figures are calculated based on estimates of Sweden's total bear population. The country's environmental protection agency estimated this population to be around 2,800 at the conclusion of 2022's hunting season. Provisional figures for the autumn of 2023 point to a decline to around 2,450, however. It's also legal in Sweden to kill bears in self-defense, with these very rare cases not counted towards hunting totals. Activists say the permitted culls a 'pure trophy hunt' The carnivore protection group Sweden's Big Five said in a press release ahead of the season starting that "100 years of brown bear conservation progress is right now being undone at an alarming speed. Mainly because of the high hunting quotas permitted by the Swedish government." Magnus Orrebant, a member of Sweden's Big Five, told the Associated Press that bear hunting in Sweden was "very much about pure trophy hunt," saying it had more to do with killing the animals than preserving them or controlling their numbers. The group argues that allowing limited bear hunting is not compatible with the EU designating brown bears as a "strictly protected species" and that Sweden's bear population is, in fact, fairly small and could be larger. It cites Japan's northern island of Hokkaido as an example, saying its brown bear population is around five times larger than Sweden's, in an area that's around five times smaller than Sweden and three times more densely populated. No hunting in Norway, similar rules in Finland Neighboring Norway bans the hunting of brown bears, while Finland has a similar system to Sweden's that is only open to hunters who obtain a special license. The Finnish brown bear hunting season opened on Tuesday. Females with cubs and cubs younger than one year are protected in both Finland and Sweden, but activists warn this can be more difficult in practice than in theory. "Bears take three to four years to mature, they only have a few cubs at a time and only every two to three years. During the hunt it is very difficult to tell females from males, and the females are much more valuable to the population," Jonas Kindberg said. Kathi kathi@wildtravel.net 708-425-3552 "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." | ||
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Killing one bear is one to many for these nut cases. I bet the population is way underestimated so they are always on the safe side of the numbers. | |||
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thank you for posting this and thank you for the swedes like finnish or romanians to continue to do what they want or need to control their predators instead of receiving orders from EU. | |||
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https://www.iflscience.com/swe...-gets-underway-75670 Swedish Hunters Kill 152 Bears In Under 2 Days As Annual Hunt Gets Underway The Swedish government has licensed the killing of 486 brown bears – 20 percent of the population. Maddy Chapman Editor & Writer Edited by Francesca Benson Sweden’s annual brown bear hunt kicked off on Wednesday, with over 150 bears killed in the opening days. The country’s government has approved the killing of 486 brown bears – 20 percent of the wild population – between August 21 and October 15. By Thursday afternoon, less than two days in, 152 had already been shot, Sweden’s Environmental Protection Agency announced. The cull goes against the bear’s status as a “strictly protected species” within the European Union, and conservationists are understandably outraged. Truls Gulowsen, head of the Norwegian Nature Conservation Organisation, told The Guardian they were “very concerned with this culling”. “It’s a significant and quite dramatic reduction of the Scandinavian brown bear population. Now that Sweden is seriously decreasing its stock, it will impact the survivability of the entire Scandinavian population.” Brown bears were hunted to the brink of extinction in Sweden at the beginning of the last century, but their numbers have since recovered. They reached a peak of almost 3,300 in 2008, and as of last year, there were an estimated 2,450. “100 years of brown bear conservation progress in Sweden is right now being undone at an alarming speed,” write Sweden’s “Big Five” carnivore protection project in a statement. The project claims the government is “on a clear path” to cull the bear population to 1,400 – the minimum number of bears needed to maintain a viable population. Last year, 648 bears were shot during “licensed quota hunting” and a further 74 were killed during so-called “protective hunting” – a total of 722 dead bears. “We can absolutely not continue to shoot this many bears if we are to have a stable bear population around the 2,400 bears we have today,” Jonas Kindberg, leader of the Scandinavian Bear Project run by the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, added. As well as being detrimental to the brown bear population, the cull will have ramifications for the rest of the ecosystem. Losing a top predator, also known to aid seed dispersal, could negatively impact a number of different species. It’s not just bears that have faced population control measures in Sweden. In 2023, the Scandinavian country approved the largest wolf cull in modern history, before announcing the killing of hundreds of lynxes just weeks later. This year, for the first time, police will accompany hunters in anticipation of protests as controversy surrounding the cull continues to mount. Kathi kathi@wildtravel.net 708-425-3552 "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." | |||
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Due to public concerns and worrying bear encounters I think Japan is another that recently decided their Bear population needs a little culling to reduce Bear spillover into urban areas. Unlike Sweden, Japan has difficulty finding hunters willing to assist. p dog shooter posted 22 August 2024 09:59 quote: But animal welfare groups are warning that the quotas are too high and say that this year's hunting would result in a 20% drop in the brown bear population. Killing one bear is one to many for these nut cases. I bet the population is way underestimated so they are always on the safe side of the numbers. p dog shooter posted 22 August 2024 09:59 What the alarmist greenies either don't realise or won't say is if Bear populations are not maintained within carrying capacity their numbers reach the point of crashing, and probably by more than 20% A population reduction of 20% by culling or hunting usually permits stronger breeding and fairly quick population recovery which is all within natural parameters where populations naturally fluctuate through times of both deprivation and plenty. But some outspoken critics are too dishonest to admit this. Hunting.... it's not everything, it's the only thing. | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting European Big Game Hunting Sweden opens brown bear hunting season amid criticism
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