The largest wolf slaughter in recent history has begun in Sweden, with environmentalists warning that it may severely affect the population.
On Monday, The Guardian joined 200 hunters as they hunted wolves in the frost-covered woodlands between Gävleborg and Dalarna, from midnight until 3 p.m. Throughout the month, groups will be sent around Sweden to hunt the enormous predators.
On Monday, the hunters encircled places where they suspected wolves were hiding. They released dogs, whose mission it was to find the wolves and then drive them down a trail to the waiting hunters, but they were unsuccessful, and the hunters returned home empty-handed.
The biggest wolf cull in Sweden
OLIVIER MORIN/AFP via Getty Images
Wildlife activists in Sweden and elsewhere denounced the commencement of what is being termed the world's largest wolf cull on Monday, claiming that killing over a fifth of the country's critically endangered lupine species might have serious effects on biodiversity, as per Common Dreams.
Last winter, Sweden sanctioned the slaughter of 27 wolves, while hunters in neighboring Norway were granted permission to slaughter 51 wolves-roughly 60% of the lupine population-and Finland approved the slaughter of 27 wolves.
While Gunnar Glöersen, the Swedish Hunters' Association's predator manager, believes that "hunting is definitely required to curb the spread of wolves," Daniel Ekblom of Sweden's Nature Conservation Society termed the slaughter "tragic."
Other opponents of the cull emphasized Sweden's tiny wolf population. Italy, for example, is just around half the size of Sweden but contains roughly 3,000 wolves that are legally protected.
"Wolves as top predators in the food chain are a necessity for biodiversity," Marie Stegard, head of the anti-hunting group Jaktkritikerna, warned, warning that killing such a large proportion of the population through hunting has severe effects on animals and the environment.
Hunting is a contentious political issue in Sweden, with a large lobby able to persuade lawmakers to allow more animals to be slaughtered.
"It is evident that there is a considerable political demand for regulated hunting for wolves, as well as lynx and bear," Stegard remarked.
Swedish government aims to cull the wolf population
Last May 2022, Sweden's government stated that it intends to conduct a massive wolf cull, perhaps decreasing the present population of approximately 400 animals by half in a move that may violate EU rules.
The organization previously projected that wolf numbers in Sweden should not go below 300, with fresh arrivals from outside the nation occurring on a regular basis, if the population was to stay sustainable and not be harmed by inbreeding.
Wolf populations in Sweden declined after a 1789 ordinance permitting commoners to hunt destroyed deer and moose herds, forcing wolves to feed on cattle.
By the mid-1800s, they had gone from the south and were thought to be extinct a century later.
However, in the 1980s, three wolves from the Russian-Finnish population relocated to southern Sweden, establishing a new Swedish-Norwegian population today estimated at around 480 animals in 40-odd packs, the great majority of which are in central Sweden.
Conservationists contend that a population of 300 is the very bare minimum and that Sweden's ecosystem could easily sustain a population of 1,000.
They accuse the government of caving down to the country's formidable hunting lobby, which claims wolves feed on moose and endanger hunters' dogs.
