Huge Swedish wolf hunt will be ‘disastrous’ for species, warn experts

[Still Waters]

The biggest wolf cull in modern times has begun in Sweden as nature organisations warn it could drastically harm the population.

Hunters will be allowed to kill 75 wolves from a population of 460, as the government seeks to reduce the population density of the predators in certain districts.

“Hunting is absolutely necessary to slow the growth of wolves. The wolf pack is the largest we have had in modern times,” Gunnar Glöersen, predator manager at the Swedish Hunters’ Association, told local press as the hunt began on Monday.

However, nature organisations have pointed out that the Swedish population of wolves is relatively low – in Italy there are more than 3,000.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/02/huge-swedish-wolf-hunt-will-be-disastrous-for-species-warn-experts

[Piney]

That's a genetic bottleneck waiting to happen.....

[Still Waters]

On 1/2/2023 at 12:24 PM, Still Waters said:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/02/huge-swedish-wolf-hunt-will-be-disastrous-for-species-warn-experts

The Guardian have updated their article.

Quote

Hunters go home empty-handed on first day of Sweden’s biggest wolf cull

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/02/huge-swedish-wolf-hunt-will-be-disastrous-for-species-warn-experts

[Kenemet]

On 1/2/2023 at 6:45 AM, Piney said:

That's a genetic bottleneck waiting to happen.....

That's exactly what I thought.  Transfer a group somewhere else would be a better idea.

[Still Waters]

Hunters have shot dead 54 wolves in a month in Sweden’s largest and most controversial cull of the animals yet, prompting fury from conservationists and satisfaction among farmers who consider the predators a threat to their livelihoods.

The Stockholm government has authorised the shooting of 75 wolves in its 2023 cull, more than twice last year’s figure, despite warnings from scientists that wolf numbers are not large enough to sustain a healthy population.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/07/swedish-hunters-shoot-dead-54-wolves-in-largest-cull-ever-in-country

[Piney]

[bmk1245]

Quote

Take, for instance, the resistance faced by campaigns to reintroduce wolves in the United Kingdom, centuries after they were driven to extinction. Norway hosts just about 80 locally endangered wolves, yet some of them are being culled with state sanction even though they are living in a dedicated conservation zone, because of a perceived threat to people and livestock.

When one of the world’s wealthiest countries, three times the size of Nepal, does not want even 80 wolves on its land, how fair is it to leave Nepal and its citizens alone in bearing the cost of conserving more than 300 tigers?

(link; bolding mine)

Reasonable question.

[Myles]

I am fine with this.  Sometimes culling is necessary.  

In the states, I wish they would put a bounty on coyotes.  Around me there are too many.  Luckily the state I am in allows you to kill them as long as you claim they are a pest, which means anyone can kill them.  Unfortunately not many people hunt them.  I've never shot one, but I would not hesitate to do so.  

[Myles]

6 minutes ago, bmk1245 said:

(link; bolding mine)

Reasonable question.

Interesting read.  imagine the global outcry if Nepal stated that if you feel threatened by a tiger or elephant, you can shoot it.