20 Wolves To Be Shot in Sweden This Winter

Swedish environmental authorities have announced that hunting licenses for the shooting of 20 wolves this winter will be issued – sparking cheers from the hunters, sheep farmers and reindeer raisers and outrage among those defending the wolf in this Nordic nation.

Some 3,000 hunters here have expressed an interest in shooting a wolf this season.

The authorities maintain that there are just over 200 wolves in Sweden and that 20 new animals should be imported from Finland or Russia to give badly-needed new blood and genes to the Swedish wolves suffering from in-breeding.

Critics insist that this is too small a number to allow any culling and that other European nations with far less forest wilderness have more wolves than Sweden.

Last year’s wolf cull sparked heated criticism both from within Sweden and abroad.

Only a few years ago, the Swedish wolf was close to annihilation and has only slowly made a come back.