Sweden has issued licences to hunters to kill a complete of 201 lynx, weeks after dozens of wolves have been killed within the nation’s greatest wolf cull in trendy instances.

The variety of licences to kill lynx all through March, issued by Sweden’s nation administrations, is greater than double the quantity lately.

The deliberate cull is out of all proportion to any hazard to livestock or folks, say wildlife conservationists and activists, who’re asking the EU to take motion in opposition to Sweden for breaching environmental legislation.

“This can be a trophy hunt, similar to going to Africa to hunt lions,” stated Magnus Orrebrant, the pinnacle of Svenska Rovdjursföreningen, an animal rights advocacy group that has began a petition calling for the trophy searching of lynx to be stopped. “A whole lot of overseas hunters come to Sweden for lynx searching as a result of they suppose it’s thrilling.”

Conservationists warned final month that the lynx inhabitants in Europe may collapse until instant efforts are made to guard the animals. Checks on the remaining cats in France present that their genetic variety is so low they’ll turn into domestically extinct throughout the subsequent 30 years with out intervention.

There are round 1,450 lynx unfold throughout Sweden, about 300 fewer than 10 years in the past. Naturvårdsverket, the Swedish environmental safety company, argues that the nation wants solely 870 animals to keep up a wholesome inhabitants.

The Swedish hunters’ affiliation, Svenska Jägareförbundet, admits the lynx don’t pose a hazard to people. Henrik Falk, an adviser to the affiliation, informed the Guardian: “The hunt is completely not linked to any hazard to people. Neither is wolf searching – there aren’t any documented circumstances of wolves attacking people in Swedish trendy instances.

“The lynx hunt is extra concerning the pleasure, and for some hunters, in fact, the pores and skin is the motivation.”

Lynx, like most different recreation animals in Sweden, are hunted utilizing canine. The EU Habitats Directive specifies that searching could also be allowed both to forestall harm to livestock or within the pursuits of public security.

It’s “strongly questionable” that both of those circumstances applies to lynx in Sweden, stated Benny Gäfwert, a predator professional on the World Broad Fund for Nature (WWF). “We don’t suppose the hunters can invoke these exceptions, and we now have notified the EU Fee,” Gäfwert stated.

“That searching happens, we don’t, in itself, have an issue with, however the extent to which it happens in relation to the low harm attributable to the lynx is unwarranted.”

The WWF can be difficult Sweden’s rationalization for its ongoing wolf cull, Gäfwert stated.

Traditionally, lynx have ranged throughout Eurasia however have come underneath intense stress in lots of nations from habitat loss, inbreeding, poaching and site visitors collisions. In Britain, calls to reintroduce lynx to the wild have been rejected final month by the surroundings minister, Thérèse Coffey.

Conservationists level to the position of lynx in controlling Sweden’s massive inhabitants of deer, moose and boar.

The lynx hunt in Sweden is happening throughout the mating season when their fur is thickest, making it significantly enticing to hunters, stated Marie Stegard Lind of anti-hunting group Jaktkritikerna. “That is fully pointless – a pure trophy hunt,” she stated.

This article by Beata Furstenberg was first revealed by The Guardian on 2 March 2023. Lead Picture: Lynx populations are underneath stress in Europe from habitat loss and poaching. {Photograph}: Ondrej Prosicky/Alamy.

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