The Swedes staged a massacre of local bears (4 photos)

More than 150 Scandinavian brown bears were killed in the first days of the annual cull, a bloody event considered part of Sweden's cultural heritage. The government has given the go-ahead for the extermination of 20% of the species' population in the country.





The Swedes have their own traditional values ​​- the mass extermination of forest animals. Magnus Rydholm from the Swedish Hunting Association called hunting part of the cultural heritage: "Northern Sweden would never be habitable if it were not for hunting with dogs. It is a cultural heritage and a right that we must protect."

In the last century, local bears were almost completely exterminated, but the survivors were able to restore the population to 3,300 individuals. At the same time, the government believes that no more than 1,400 bears should live in the country. The rest must be exterminated, and this is what they have been systematically doing since 2008.



Bears are killed every year, so in 2008 alone, 900 bears were killed, last year their number was 722. But this year, the hunters were guarded by police officers so that they would not be beaten by animal rights activists.

Police patrol forests on foot and with drones to ensure "peaceful movement of hunters" amid fears that more licenses could spark protests.



A male bear shot in Ljusdal, 200 miles north of Stockholm

Animal rights activist Magnus Orrebrant said: "Modern hunting methods make it extremely easy to kill a bear - it's like a slaughterhouse."

The country allows bears to be lured out with barrels of food, then set on by dogs, and then shot. It is believed that this method causes the least stress to bears.

In addition to bears, lynxes and wolves are exterminated. In 2023, the country carried out the largest wolf hunt in the modern world, when 75 individuals were shot from an endangered population of only 460 wolves.



European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even demands that wolves be no longer protected throughout the EU.

Environmentalists are concerned that if the hunt continues, the consequences could affect the entire region.