Europe’s brown bears are a protected species. But they – alongside wolves and lynxes – are increasingly crossing paths with farmers, forestry officials and hunters such as Supeková. The appetite for killing big carnivores has shot up as wolf and bear populations have grown, several bear attacks have made headlines, and politicians have taken aim at laws that brought back them back from the brink of extinction.
Sweden has issued permits to kill 486 of its brown bears, about 20%, this hunting season, which runs until mid-October. In 2023, the country conducted record-breaking culls of lynxes and wolves. Romania’s MPs voted in July to double its hunting quota from 220 brown bears to 481. In Slovakia, where a bear was recently filmed rampaging through a village, lawmakers voted in June to allow hunting near villages under certain conditions. In July, the European court of justice ruled that recent wolf culls in Austria and Spain were unlawful. Earlier in the year, Switzerland also faced legal challenges for its proposal to kill 70% of its wolf population.
Rather than large scale culls, why not just decriminalize shooting one close to your property, but prohibit any sort of organized action against them? So if a farmer went out and shot one he would be fine, but if a few farmers got together to hunt, they’d become guilty of something like conspiracy to cull.
Should give the farmers what they want while also keeping the species protected in more distant areas, which seems like it’d be a reasonable compromise.
Because in Europe you are pretty much always on or near somebodies property.
Some people just have a hard on for hunting them. They would set up some kind of bait to get them close enough and bam - hunting trophy is theirs.
Or they just keep quiet and lie and do whatever they want. Hard to prove guilt in the sticks if there isn’t a game warden nearby.
Here’s an anecdote from an American outdoors industry leader where he admits he doesn’t give a shit about conservation laws and admits to seeking out and killing at least one bear, against the advice of fish and wildlife, because he deemed it to be dangerous. https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=108
Over here we have people akin to that in the ministry of environment and theu get to chanhe laws and stuff to suit them.
No care for preventing the encounters, they like it as it gives them reason to kill them. Couple of months back there was a male bear who got into town, so they went to hunt it down and in the end they said the bear was shot down but it was a female… as long as there is a dead bear, they don’t care
Likely because it wouldn’t be reported to the government as thoroughly as hunting tags are. Politicians tend to be against policies that don’t directly give them clout when policies exist that could.
Why can’t the EU simply stop sweden from murdering wolves & bears? Every year local rednecks murder these animals and no one cares.
They don’t murder them, they cull them.
If you’d like to wander out into the forest and ask them nicely not to breed so much that they’re a danger to humans, by all means do.
Why can’t I ask humans not to breed so much that they’re hurting the wolves? There’s far more humans than wolves. Who is really at risk here?
The wolves. We’re both at the top of our food chains, so losing either humans or wolves isn’t a problem for the planet
I’m sure the wolves will appreciate your tasty offering if you’d prefer
Guess you never heard of how the Yellowstone wolves dramatically changed the ecosystem after being reintroduced. Source
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