Biggest Wolf Slaughter in Modern Times Begins in Sweden
Hunters have been granted permission to kill a quarter of the country’s population despite outrage from wildlife experts.
The largest wolf slaughter in modern times has begun in Sweden, prompting outrage from animal and environmental campaigners.
Hunters were given the green light from the government to go ahead with the killings on Monday. Over the course of a month, they will shoot dead 75 of the country’s 460 wolves across multiple areas, raising concerns over potential long-term consequences for the endangered species.
Groups have unsuccessfully tried to challenge the slaughter, arguing that it violates the Bern Convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats.
While Gunnar Glöersen, predator manager at the Swedish Hunters’ Association, told local public broadcaster SVT that the cull is “absolutely necessary”, Marie Stegard, the president of the anti-hunting group Jaktkritikerna has said the slaughter will be “disastrous”.
“Wolves as top predators in the food chain are a prerequisite for biodiversity,” she 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.”
Daniel Ekblom of the Swedish Nature Conservation Association’s wildlife management group in Gävleborg, has called the hunt “tragic”.
The state’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that the wolf population must not dip below 300 to prevent inbreeding and irreparable damage to the species. However, the Swedish government called for a dismissal of the EPA’s recommendations. Parliament voted in favor of reducing the number to 170 - the very lowest number required to still meet the requirements of the European Union’s species and habitats directive.
Benny Gäfwert, a predator expert at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), warned SVT that the 170 figure was “not based on scientific fact”.
“Unforeseen things can happen in wild populations and a level of 170 is far too low,” he said. “We have a problem when it comes to the genetics of wolves, and the smaller the wolf population, the greater the impact of fluctuations in genetic status.”
Wolf hunting is highly politicized across the country, with parliament lobbying the EU to remove wolves and bears from its list of species in need of protection.
“It is obvious that there is a strong political pressure for licensed hunting for wolves, and also lynx and bear,” said Stegard. “There is a large majority of Swedes who like wolves, even where they live. In our opinion the reason for these hunts are simply that there is a demand for shooting wolves among hunters. The hunters’ organisations have enormous power in Sweden.
“It is a fact that the Swedish parliament has a hunters’ club open to members of all parties, with a shooting gallery underneath the parliament. This sounds like a joke but it’s absolutely true.”
Hanna Dittrich-Söderman, who runs the EPA’s wolf program, told The Local, "there is no other animal that is so easy to both demonize and glorify as the wolf—an imagined fear or hatred has been attached to it.
"We have almost made it a symbol of our fearful nature as a whole, it has almost mythical qualities."
Wolves in the US are also being persecuted and slaughtered in terrifying numbers. Listen to the Species Unite War on Wolves podcast series. Our founder, Elizabeth Novogratz, spoke with wolf experts, photographers, and conservationists to discover what we can do to stop this madness before it’s too late.
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