Despite being a leading country in environmental protection, Sweden has paradoxically had a historic opposition to wolves. A 1789 law that allowed commoners to hunt led to the decimation of the deer and elk populations, prompting wolves to prey more on livestock, and the state to pay a bounty for every wolf killed: wolf numbers fell steeply. In the 1960s, Sweden declared wolves a protected species as they were on the brink of extinction: numbers began growing again 20 years later, however, when three wolves from the Russian-Finnish population migrated to central Sweden, and when their numbers exceeded 200 the country started allowing licensed hunts (2010). Wolves are seen as a threat as they occasionally attack livestock, mainly sheep, and are a menace to hunting dogs: in 2021, 368 livestock animals were killed by wolves. According to the ‘Swedish Hunters Association’, it is very difficult to hunt deer and elk with dogs when you have wolves in the area, because the dogs are likely to be attacked. The Stockholm government has authorised the shooting of 75 wolves out of an estimated population of 460 in its 2023 cull (more than twice the 2022 figure), despite warnings from scientists that wolf numbers are not large enough to sustain a healthy population. The scale of this year’s planned cull has alarmed conservationists like the ‘Nature Conservation Society’: scientists advice that to sustain a healthy population, the wolf population roaming Sweden and Finland should not fall below 500; ‘Sweden’s Environmental Protection Agency’ said that at least 300 are necessary to avoid harmful inbreeding. Led by centre- and far-right parties, two years ago Sweden’s parliament voted to cap the wolf population at 270, while the ‘Swedish Hunters’ Association’ wants to lower the limit to 150 animals. The European Commission has previously opened infringement proceedings against Sweden, warning that the annual cull falls foul of the EU’s Habitats Directive since “the wolf population has not reached a level that guarantees its conservation”. This year’s cull began in early January and ends on 15 February: Swedish hunters have already shot dead 54 wolves in a month. Several regional authorities have already called it off having reached their quota, whereas experts reckon that the government’s planned national total of 75 wolves may not be reached.
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