Misha Istratov, who writes about wildlife in Sweden, does not shy away from any means to sway public opinion in his eager to protect carnivores. In his op-ed, ‘Sweden does not protect wildlife against hunting’ (21 May), he even relies on fairy tales as arguments and creates a misleading image of reality.
In fact, Sweden has an adaptive wildlife management system that strives to balance various interests, finding broad solutions when human interests conflict with nature. Through active efforts—often led by hunters—many animal species have gone from being threatened to achieving favorable conservation status.
In Sweden, hunting is considered one of many tools necessary to ensure and increase biological diversity. In fact, several other countries look to Sweden to improve and develop their wildlife management systems.
One prominent figure that has pointed to the Swedish solutions for large carnivore management is European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In a meeting with party colleagues in the European Parliament, she highlighted in favourable terms the Swedish model for regulating the wolf population through hunting.
It should also be noted that, contrary to the author's misleading suggestion, the current hunting of bears, lynxes, and wolverines has not been challenged by the Commission.
The Commission’s infringement procedure against Sweden concerned only wolves. The fact that it is still open and has not been tried in court shows that it is an on-going dialogue between the Commission and Sweden without any final ruling.
Swedish wildlife management is based on inventories of biotopes and animal species, as well as on the most up-to-date data on the Swedish wildlife populations. Facts and data are provided by researchers, and decisions about hunting are always based on a solid foundation of knowledge. Swedish wildlife management is one of the most ambitious and serious in Europe.
Sweden is also highly committed to increasing biological diversity based on research findings. The EU nature directives are also duly implemented. The national authorities involve many different stakeholders and interests in the carnivore management to ensure a broad popular support and increased understanding of the management system.
It is incorrect to claim that Swedish animal welfare would not maintain the same high standards as in neighboring Nordic countries. The explicit principle in the Swedish Hunting Law is indeed that hunting must be conducted so that " game is not subjected to unnecessary suffering".
It is the very same principle expressed in the animal welfare legislation of other Nordic countries. The high standards are essentially the same throughout the Nordics, even if, technically speaking, the countries have chosen to regulate animal welfare in different laws.
The Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management was founded already in 1830 and is probably the oldest wildlife management organisation in the world. During the years, it has adapted to changing conditions and values. The organisation has contributed to the work of saving several different wildlife species, for example moose, roe deer, otter, beaver, lesser white-fronted goose, arctic fox and southern dunlin, to name a few.
Swedish wildlife management is not the Wild West, but a serious and long-term effort. Misha Istratov chooses to draw examples from children's book author Astrid Lindgren's fairy tale world. These do not serve as a proper vision or model for how wild animals should be managed. Wildlife management must always be developed and refined based on research and facts—not fantasies and fairy tales.
