Howling mad

Just three days into Sweden's first authorized wolf hunt in four decades, hunters are close to meeting the 27-kill mark, about a 10-percent reduction in the country's wolf population. Sweden's parliament voted in October to authorize the cull in a bid to maintain numbers at 210 total animals in 20 packs during the next five years.

Conservation groups have condemned the government's move to reduce the number of wolves in Sweden, where the population has grown to more than 200 from near zero during the 1970s. The current cull gives hunters in five regions of southwestern and central Sweden until February 15 to meet quota restrictions.

Threatened species?

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls protesting the action against Sweden's wolves since the government-authorized hunt began on January 2, according to Mikael Karlsson, president of the organization.

Karlsson told Deutsche Welle that his organization planned to register a complaint with the European Commission in the coming weeks. "As long as the population is not viable, which means sustainable in the long-term, common hunting is prohibited by EU law," he said.

He characterized Sweden's wolf population as "critically endangered."

Karlsson also questioned the Swedish government's commitment to conservation goals in light of the timing of parliament's October vote, which took place during Stockholm's turn at the rotating European Union presidency.

The decision to authorize the cull of Sweden's wolves came as the country was serving in an EU leadership role and "calling on the international community and the European Union to do more to preserve biodiversity," he told Deutsche Welle.

Population control and renewal

The wolf population has made a comeback in Sweden in recent decades, and the growing number of wolves in the country has jeopardized the safety of Swedish farmers' livestock. Two wolf attacks in 2005 cost farmer Kenneth Holmstrom 32 sheep, according to Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. Holmstrom told the paper that the wolf population should be "better controlled."

The Swedish government's decision to allow a kill quota of 27 wolves sought to address population control concerns. Yet the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency said the effort would also allow for a renewal of the wolf population in the country, which has been plagued by inbreeding and genetic defects such as heart and kidney problems.

"This culling is part of a program which has aimed to get a better genetic status for the wolf population," Swedish EPA desk officer Per Risberg told Deutsche Welle. Risberg said the Swedish parliament's range of options includes introducing new wolves to the country's population over the next five years.

But the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation maintained that keeping the population within the 200-range would not constitute a sustainable level in future years. "Several times more than 200 are needed," Karlsson noted, even after accounting for potential new additions to the local wolf packs.

"If they insist on that limit, the wolves in Sweden will eventually die out," he said.

Improving oversight

Karlsson's organization has criticized the government's efforts to supervise the current cull, and recent reports suggest that hunters in one area of Sweden have killed more wolves than originally authorized for the area.

Per Risberg of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that Dalarna had exceeded its quota of nine wolves by one kill and estimated the current countrywide cull tally at 24 out of 27.

Though Dalarna surpassed the quota established for the region, the Swedish Hunter's Association defended the overall management of the country's wolf hunt. "The view that the system would break down - the facts say that it hasn't," the group's secretary general, Hakan Weberyd, told Deutsche Welle.

Weberyd said his organization supported the Swedish parliament's vote to limit the wolf population through a cull. "We think that the hunt has been quite successful," he said. "The management and the logistics have worked."

Due to the 45-year ban on wolf hunting in Sweden, Weberyd said the Swedish Hunter's Association provided hunters with a compendium of up-to-date information, including guidelines for protocol on how to hunt wolves properly.

Weberyd said efforts by the Swedish Hunter's Association to set up an SMS system to allow hunters to report downed wolves had helped to streamline the process, particularly in the Varmland region.

"The hunters in Varmland were very keen on doing this by the book," he said.

Hunters in Sweden officially have until February 15 to reach the government's established cull quota of 27 wolves.

Author: Amanda Price
Editor: Nathan Witkop