Sweden’s annual bear hunt has sparked controversy after more than 150 brown bears were killed in the opening days, with conservationists decrying the “pure slaughter”. The government issued 486 licenses to shoot bears, equivalent to 20% of the remaining population, following a record-breaking cull of 722 bears last year.

By Thursday afternoon, the second day of the hunt, 152 bears had already been shot, according to Sweden’s Environmental Protection Agency. The hunt has become a focus of growing controversy, with police accompanying hunters for the first time amid concerns of local protests.

Magnus Orrebrant, chair of the Swedish Carnivore Association, a pro-wildlife advocacy group, said: “Modern hunting methods make it extremely easy to kill a bear – one could liken it to pure slaughter.”

Police officers have been patrolling the forests on foot and with drones to ensure the “hunters’ peaceful progress” amid concerns that the increased licenses could provoke protests. “We have deemed it necessary to ensure that there is no interference with the hunters doing their job during this year’s bear hunt,” said Joacim Lundqvist, a police officer and wildlife coordinator for the north of Sweden.

Bears were hunted almost to extinction in Sweden a century ago, but numbers recovered to a peak of 3,300 in 2008. In the years since, the culls have cut bear numbers by 40% to about 2,400. If they continue at a similar rate, next year’s cull will bring numbers close to the minimum 1,400 bears considered necessary to maintain a viable population by the Swedish government.

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Over the past two years, Sweden has culled hundreds of wolves, lynxes, and bears, with last year’s hunts breaking modern records for the number of animals killed. In 2023, the country held the largest wolf hunt in modern times, aiming to cull 75 of an endangered population of just 460 wolves.

Ecologists are concerned that if they continue, the hunts may have repercussions across the region. Earlier this month, Norwegian environmental groups appealed to Swedish authorities in some border regions to turn down the licenses to kill the bears, arguing that they threatened the brown bear population in both countries. Their appeal was denied.

Truls Gulowsen, head of the Norwegian Nature Conservation Organisation, said they were “very concerned with this culling”. He said: “It’s a significant and quite dramatic reduction of the Scandinavian brown bear population. Now that Sweden is seriously decreasing its stock, it will impact the survivability of the entire Scandinavian population.”

Jonas Kindberg, of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and the lead scientist for the Scandinavian Bear Project, said: “If you want the population to remain stable at around the 2,400 animals as we estimate today, you can only shoot about 250 bears annually.”

Brown bears are a “strictly protected species” in Europe, and conservationists argue that the high hunting quotas could breach the EU habitat directive, which prohibits “deliberate hunting or killing of strictly protected species”. Under EU rules, this prohibition can only be lifted as a “last resort” to protect public safety, crops, or natural flora and fauna.

Magnus Rydholm, communications director for the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management, said the brown bear was not typically dangerous to people. “No, it’s not,” he said. “It is mostly interested in blueberries. Of course, if it’s provoked it can become dangerous.”

As the hunt continues, concerns mount over the future of Sweden’s brown bear population and the potential consequences of the government’s actions