Brown bear hunting in Sweden began on Wednesday with 486 hunting permits being issued to kill them but conservationists have warned of a decrease by 20% in the predator population of the country.
According to Jonas Kindberg from this organization, “If you want the population to remain stable at around the 2,400 animals as we estimate today, you can only shoot about 250 bears annually” that happened when they released a figure for this year’s bear hunting in June.
He added, “It ‘may rapidly have significant implications which may be critical for the bear population.”
In Sweden, officials said, it is mostly due to licensed hunts held last years that indicated downward trend. The license to cull them last year was record-high at 649; it was 622 in 2022 and then went down to 501 in 2021.
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (a government agency) once made an assessment of its national bear population. This analysis took place five years ago and revealed that in total there were almost three thousand bears at that time (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency).
The agency stated that between 2018 and 2020 there was a slight increase in the number of carnivorous mammals followed by decrease.
Svensk Jagt, Swedish hunters’ magazine advised its readership saying “the bear like other large predators may only be hunted under strictly controlled conditions.”
Seven out of ten counties inhabited by bears in Sweden award an annual limited number of licenses for their extermination since it is covered with forests about seventy percent.
October fifteenth is set as the deadline for ending the hunt on carnivoran mammals within twenty-fourth (Carnivora Hunting Seasons).
These regional areas are mainly situated in central and northern parts of Sweden.
Accordingly, shortly after three bears had been culled, on Wednesday Varmland County west from Stockholm closed its own season for shooting bears scheduled for this year (The County of Varmland Closes 2024 Bear).
Bear hunting licenses are not the only means to kill bears, as there is also an option to do that in self-defense when people’s lives are at risk (Lariviere 44).
A female bear weighs between sixty and one hundred kilograms with males ranging from a hundred to two hundred and fifty kilograms. They reach a height of up to 135 cm (53 inches) at their shoulder.
Bear hunting is restricted in Norway which has approximately 1,600km (994 miles) of border area with Sweden (Odden, Nilsen, Linnell & Andersen 176).
