Swedish Wolf Cull Called Off (for now).

[Horwood Beer-Master]

Sweden wolf cull divides wilderness opinion

Sweden has suspended a controversial cull of its wolf population shortly after it began because of a legal challenge by conservationists. Three of the 16 wolves allowed under the quota were killed before the hunt was called off.

It was still snowing when they set off, long before sunrise. The band of hunters spread out, driving along the silent forest roads.

When Hakan Svartvik saw animal tracks in the fresh snow, he stopped and followed them on foot. The wolf pack had moved through here, quite recently. It was close.

"They have been here during the last two hours," he said a short hike later. The snow was stained blood red.

Nearby lay a dead female elk, its stomach ripped open - an early-morning feast for the wolves.

Each hunter phoned in his information. Back at base in his kitchen, Ronny Styffe was building up a picture of where the wolf pack had moved overnight.

He now knew enough to send in the hunters, to encircle the pack. It was time to get going.

They pulled on camouflage snow trousers and jackets, and strapped on their snowshoes.

Rifles slung over their shoulders, each moved off alone through the forest to the hiding places where they would lay low and wait.

Hunters turned hunted

Hunters and wolves often seek out their prey in the same areas. Wolves can kill the hunt dogs, and that possible prize elk. In short, hunters don't like wolves.

"In some parts of the area you can't hunt elk anymore. We used to have some of the best elk hunting in the world," says Hakan Svartvik.

He is not one of the extremists. A retired teacher, he says the wolf is "a fascinating animal. We are not against a small number of wolves, we accept that, but we have nearly all of them in the middle of Sweden.

"They like to eat dogs. I could go hunting and the risk is perhaps not so big, but I am anxious because I don't want to lose my dog."

The wolf is not one of the world's endangered species. It was however once common across Europe, but the widespread destruction of its habitat has steadily reduced its numbers.

Now in many parts of Europe, wolves are protected. In Sweden the hunters are on one side of a raging debate about whether the animal should be killed or encouraged to roam free.

This vast country - straddling the Arctic Circle - is largely a wilderness. Bear, elk and lynx roam across thousands of miles of pristine snow-covered forests.

So too in large numbers did the wolf, until it was hunted to the verge of extinction. Up until the 1960s, people here were rewarded for killing wolves. (continues)

[klr]

They want to cull the wolves so that they can hunt elk? Bollocks to that I say.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'd love to go hunting the hunters.