- Though Sweden has a reputation as being ecologically-minded and nature-friendly, the nation has also become a ‘trophy hunter’s paradise’ that routinely flouts the European Union’s Habitats Directive, according to a new op-ed.
- The government has allowed a politically powerful hunting lobby to steadily increase pressure on wildlife — such as the current hunt of nearly 500 bears, a fifth of total population — leading to the killing of hundreds of red-listed animals every year, including wolves, bears, wolverines, and lynxes, which are among the nation’s most adored creatures.
- “International support is desperately needed for Sweden’s wildlife, since this dysfunctional system cannot fix itself,” a new op-ed states.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
The majority of foreign visitors, and even most Swedish inhabitants, consider their country to be one that values nature. The image is also continually used in popular culture, for example, in the most recent Netflix adaptation of renowned author Astrid Lindgren’s novel Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter, in which stunning forests full of animals are shown.
This may have been the case in the past, but the same forests — and that one specifically, in fact — are either being deliberately destroyed or mercilessly felled right now. Things are far worse when it comes to wildlife, since, if one digs a little deeper, the nation has become a trophy hunter’s paradise that routinely flouts the European Union’s own Habitats Directive, which was put in place to safeguard endangered species.
The European Union has been monitoring Sweden’s activities since 2010, when a number of environmental organizations lodged a complaint against the country’s hunt of protected species, particularly wolves. A letter to the European Commission, co-signed by 29 NGOs, was sent last year asking for the reopening of the infringement procedures against Sweden over its wolf management policy. In response, the commission stated that it is still keeping an eye on Sweden’s activities, 13 years after it began. Over those years, Sweden has killed hundreds of red-listed large carnivores every year, including wolves, bears, wolverines, and lynxes, who are the nation’s most adored creatures.
The influential Swedish hunting lobby, which has been essentially allowed to act however they choose, has ingrained ideas of wildlife management that have taken strange forms. An excellent illustration of this is the yearly ‘predator campaign’ (Rovdjurskampanjen) tournament, in which competitors receive points for each of eight lesser predatory species (foxes, martens, minks, ferrets, magpies, crows, jackdaws, and seagulls) killed. As a result, the victor is named “wildlife manager of the year” and the event is credited with killing hundreds of foxes, badgers, and seagulls and crows. After public complaints, the competition has recently changed its name but the aim of it remains the same, both literally and figuratively.
In order to comprehend these events, one must understand the system behind the decisions. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket or SEPA) has relegated hunting decisions to the 21 counties (Länsstyrelser) with the aim of creating locally anchored wildlife management. In every county, a delegation (viltförvaltningsdelegation) presides, consisting of up to 15 delegates; seven from different branches such as tourism, hunting, and forestry, five from the political parties, and two from nature preservation organizations.
This might sound like a balanced roster, but in reality, most of the seats are taken by the hunting interests. A severe overrepresentation of the hunting lobby was shown in a study, where 12 hunters against two nature representatives were common tallies after votes. It is also common that county wildlife managers perform carnivore inventories during weekdays, then on the weekends join teams in hunting the very same wildlife that they are paid to monitor. This unquestionable bias is upheld by the common refrain that “hunters know best how to manage wildlife.”
This has, however, proven to be destructive: one of the hunters’ favorites — moose — had its hunting quota reduced last autumn, even before the season’s start. This is due to the fact that the hunters had already killed too many, with the population facing a substantial decline. This matter was orchestrated by the forestry industry — another controversial player in the uprooted Swedish nature idyll — since they do not like that some of their planted saplings are eaten by the large herbivores. Since they opt for profit before biodiversity, all leafy deciduous trees are usually cleared out, forcing the moose to eat planted pine trees.
Hunters make up less than 3% of the Swedish population, although they are disproportionately represented among the top politicians. The current prime minister, the minister of industry, and the minister of rural affairs— all of whom are enthusiastic hunters — have taken up or used the hobby in an effort to win over rural voters. Prior to the most recent election, the two leading ministers were frequently spotted together in hunting attire on social media. The rural minister also regularly attends the annual meeting of the Hunter’s Association and shares images of dead wolves on his social media accounts, promising to reduce the number of wolves below any levels that science has approved, and to enhance Sweden’s already excessive hunting privileges.
A more thorough examination of the policies and practices pertaining to Sweden’s two primary carnivores reveals an aggressive hunting strategy: the Swedish Species Information Centre is in charge of overseeing the Swedish Red List, and although red-listed as ‘vulnerable,’ the lynx population has for two years in a row been hunted in large numbers – on average more than 150 per year, out of a population of roughly 1,300 cats, spurring two separate petitions, via which more than 123,000 people expressed opposition to this hunt. Although the stated goal of the hunt is to safeguard farm animals, records show that only 50 to 100 sheep – out of the nation’s 500,000 sheep – are killed by lynxes annually in central and southern Sweden, where the majority of lynx hunts take place. The lynx’s impact on livestock is therefore negligible statistically.
Concurrently, nearby nations such as Poland oversee EU-funded initiatives aimed at reintroducing lynx to the wild, with protections against any form of hunting. In one of Sweden’s biggest newspapers, I put out a plan to SEPA to relocate some of the unwanted lynx to Poland, but my suggestion was met with neglect. This speaks volumes of the trophy hunting agenda.
The bear population in Sweden is listed as near threatened, yet on August 21st, the hunting of 486 bears commenced, following the largest bear hunt in history that took place last year, with a record number of 649 bears killed, constituting a quarter of the entire population at the time. Trophy hunters from all over the country as well as abroad were eagerly awaiting this moment, and more than 70 bears were shot before lunchtime on the first day of the hunt, and over twice as many before the sun set on the first day of the culling.
The motive is to proactively protect reindeer herds, but in Gävleborg County, where there is no stationary reindeer herding, 125 bears were to be shot anyway, a fact that exposes that there are ulterior motives for the hunt. Last year, 20 of these bears were carrying GPS collars for government-funded science projects, rendering the equivalent of $200,000 of taxpayer money wasted. During the first week of last year’s bear hunt, four hunters were injured by bears defending themselves, among them a 14-year-old boy who was hunting with his father: meanwhile, attacks on non-hunters are practically nonexistent.
See related: Sweden greenlights hunt of nearly 500 bears, a fifth of total population
Meanwhile, companies in nature tourism plead with the counties to curb the hunting since they have paying customers who want to see the animals alive, and especially during high season for tourism, which coincides with the bear hunt, but their requests are regularly disregarded. The best known case was a bear called Herman, a magnet for a local wildlife ecotourism proprietor for more than 12 years. Herman was targeted on social media by a Norwegian trophy hunter that publishes online videos of his kills, who utilized a new rule that allows the luring of bears with food, and then releasing hunting dogs. The new rules were issued by SEPA in order to make the bear hunt easier, and resulted in the demise of the popular bear.
Turning to the wolf population, Sweden’s new government proposed cutting the already delicate (and hence highly threatened) wolf population in 2022 to a third of its current size. Many people saw this as a primarily populist effort aimed at winning over rural voters, and farmers who raise cattle. A global team of scientists discussed the risks and increasing likelihood of genetically wiping out the vulnerable wolf population in a paper published in Science. With fewer than 11 million people, Sweden is the fifth largest country in Europe, yet it also has one of the smallest wolf populations in the EU, with only 375 individuals, down from 450 last year.
Despite the EU’s initiative to protect at least 30% of land and sea before 2030 (30×30) being nearly begun, Sweden’s current government is going in the opposite direction, trying to convince countries like Hungary to join hands in obstructing the new legislation. The main objective of the Swedish Hunter’s Association’s full-time lobbyists, who are based in both Sweden and Brussels, is to postpone and impede any actions taken to protect wild animals. Sweden’s wildlife is waiting for the EU to step forward since the authorities seem constrained by the power of the hunting lobby. International support is desperately needed for Sweden’s wildlife, since this dysfunctional system cannot fix itself. If it fails, the world will be one iconic nature country poorer.
Misha Istratov is an independent journalist covering sustainability and wildlife.
Banner image: Eurasian lynx, courtesy of Parc Zoologique de Paris.
See a related interview about Sweden’s forestry sector:
How unsustainable is Sweden’s forestry? ‘Very.’ Q&A with Marcus Westberg and Staffan Widstrand
Sweden greenlights hunt of nearly 500 bears, a fifth of total population
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