Sweden launches biggest wolf hunt in modern times
The Swedish government has revealed plans to reduce the current population of around 400 wolves by as much as half, setting a worrying example that many environmentalists and campaigners fear other EU member states will follow.
According to the government plan, hunters will be allowed to kill 75 out of the 460 wolves currently roaming Sweden. “We see that the wolf population is growing every year and with this cull, we want to ensure that we can get down to the goal set by parliament,” the Swedish rural affairs minister Anna-Caren Sätherberg told SVT, adding: “We can see that the level of conflict has increased, and that the level of acceptance has fallen.”
According to Sätherberg, the Swedish government has asked the state environmental protection agency to reconsider the number of wolves available for culling. The agency previously said that wolf numbers should remain around 300 in order to avoid inbreeding. However, the Swedish parliament stand in favour of reducing the wolf population to 170, the lowest it can go without breaking the rules of the EU’s species and habitats directive.
While many have welcomed the news, arguing that Sweden’s wolf population is out of control, others have claimed it is relatively low compared to countries such as Italy, which is currently home to over 3,000 wild wolves. Many environmentalists worry that killing over half of Sweden’s wolf population will devastate rather than heal the country’s ecosystem.
“Wolves as top predators in the food chain are a prerequisite for biodiversity,” Marie Stegatd of the anti-hunting group Jaktkritikerna told The Guardian. “Killing a quarter of the population through hunting has negative consequences for animals and nature. It’s disastrous for the entire ecosystem. The existence of wolves contributes to a richer animal and plant life. Human survival depends on healthy ecosystems.” Benny Gäfwert, a predator expert at the WWF, has also claimed that the parliament’s figure of 170 is “not based on any scientific facts”.
The figure places Scandinavia’s wolf population at even greater risk. The Scandinavian Wolf is listed as an endangered species, but in Norway, where it is critically endangered, world management policies stipulate that only four to six pups can be born each year, making Norway the only country in the world to set a cap on a critically endangered species.
