Swedish Government issues licenses to cull around 20% of remaining brown bear population (1 Viewer)

[kb57]

Swedish hunters kill more than 150 brown bears in first days of annual cull

Campaigners denounce ‘pure slaughter’, which could threaten survival of entire Scandinavian population

www.theguardian.com

Hard to justify under EU wildlife protection legislation, or in terms of maintaining a sustainable population.

 

[Montereyman]

In the USA the term the officials like to use is "harvest" when they issue hunting licenses. With capitalism reining supreme the value of wildlife is the revenue it can generate in the form of hunting licenses.

Over the last several years the federal government has encouraged the harvesting of elk, bison, and wild horses on public lands with the objective being to provide more grazing land for the cattle ranchers and the nation's beef industry.

 

[Andy Lakin]

How difficult can it be to shoot a prey animal at close range that has been attracted to a bait! Also being able to set dogs on the animals is absolutely disgusting. Some experts are arguing that this is sustainable, but what about the numbers of animals killed illegally?

Surely there is a lot of money being made from people who visit to see the bears.

 

[seawatcher]

Quote from piece in The Guardian regarding police presence during the Swedisg bear hunt "We have deemed it necessary to ensure that there is no interference with the hunters doing their job during this year’s bear hunt".

Hunters doing "their job"? I thought this was a recreational pursuit, but clearly they are doing a job - for the farmers perhaps? I read so often in the media about Swedes coexisting with bears and accepting them, but the reality is they are "harvesting" the "surplus" animals in the population. The surplus could otherwise have wandered across the border into neighbouring Norway where the pressure to shoot is even greater, but where there is a need for new blood.

SW