In recent days, several people have reported to us what is happening in Sweden, and many national and international newspapers are talking about what appears to be the largest campaign to date against wolves in a country of the European Community.
As an Association we have already been aware of the problems concerning the conservation of the wolf in Sweden for some time and more generally of the problems affecting the Scandinavian wolf population threatened by various factors, first of all a genetic impoverishment caused by a high level of inbreeding between individuals (inbreeding), from poaching, estimated by local associations at about 80 specimens killed every year in Sweden alone, and more generally to a campaign to demonize the species systematically carried out by all stakeholders, in a context different from the Italian one but in fact equally permeated with misinformation.
On behalf of European Alliance for Wolf Conservation of which we are members and with the support of Svenska Rovdjursföreningen (The Swedish Association for Large Carnivores), we have already sent several letters to the Directorate-General for the Environment in Brussels highlighting the defaults that the Swedish Government would be making with respect to the obligations established by EU law and in compliance with the Habitats Directive. The European Commission has always responded by underlining that Sweden, as an EU Member State, must also achieve and maintain a favorable conservation status for all species and habitat types covered by the Directive, including wolves, and that Member States must establish their reference population based on scientific data and that the number of specimens present on national soil is only one of the four parameters to be taken into consideration to evaluate the conservation status of a species (together with the range, the habitat of the species and future prospects).
Today, however, things are going differently: in these hours over 2000 hunters are engaged in the total killing of 14 packs, including the puppies born in spring: 75 wolves out of the 460 specimens present on Swedish soil killed through an unprecedented mobilization, with the help of the latest technologies and with large packs of hunted dogs. The count also excludes the wolves killed that are affected by scabies as well as no distinction is made between the specimens of some areas that preserve a different genetic heritage, often relating to the Russian / Finnish population, of fundamental importance for the conservation of the Scandinavian population struggling with major genetic problems.
But why is Sweden carrying out this unprecedented campaign?
The reasons are not attributable to problems of an economic nature: the numbers of depredations by wolves to the detriment of farmed animals are minimal and in the case of sheep it does not even represent 0,1% of grazing animals. Furthermore, despite the growth of the wolf population, in recent years the damage has even decreased thanks to the extensive use of nets and other means of prevention. In Sweden today there is therefore the opposition of two points of view: on the one hand there is what science demonstrates, namely that large carnivores are welcome by 70% or more of the population living in the areas where they are present, on the other, hunters and political realities who claim that the majority of the Swedish population would be against wolves, even if they do not provide any documentation to support their thesis. On these bases, therefore, the Government has issued a wolf hunting license with the aim of "increasing the acceptance of the wolf among the population" through culling. However, a recent study to be published conducted by the Swedish University of Agriculture (SLU) would not show any significant statistical difference in the acceptance of wolves by the population before and after these killings. The real motivations could instead be attributable rather to "Trophy Hunting" and to a deeply rooted hunting culture which sees hunting large predators such as wolves, bears and lynx as an activity connected more to rural tradition than to the conservation and scientific management of predators. Every year several hundred bears and about a hundred lynxes are actually killed legally in Sweden. In conclusion, as an association and together with the European Alliance for Wolf Conservation we will continue to appeal to the European Commission not only to initiate any infringement procedures against the Swedish Government, but above all to reiterate to all countries how much wolf management must be supported by valid scientific evidence rather than by the will of the lobbies to carry on traditions by now out of time in a context, the one the world is experiencing today, where the protection of habitats and the conservation of wild species must be the priority.
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In the picture a male wolf killed on January 3, 2023 in the Tinäset area, where a female was also shot down.