General:
The definition of hunting is the hunting of wild animals or game for
food or sport. Hunting could be stalking and shooting prey for food, sport, or
to manage wildlife populations. It is done all over the world, in Switzerland,
Sweden, and hugely in Africa. In Sweden the most common animals to hunt are
Moose, deer, fox and Hares. Sadly, many of these animals are being hunted a
little bit too often. In the south of Sweden it is very common to hunt hares; now,
because of the hunting period not being very limited, the population is
decreasing quickly. For exactly that reason, the year is split into hunting
periods, when we are aloud to hunt certain animals. There are of course
different reasons for needing to control the population. Either they are
predators, and they need to be controlled so they don't cause harm to farms, or
in the case of moose, it is partly so that moose don't ruin the forests because
they eat the bark and the tree tops. Different animals have different lengths of
hunting periods, for instance fox' have a designated hunting period; between
1st of august to around, 15th of march to 15th of april, depending on where in Sweden
you are. Although there is a hunting period, fox is allowed to be shot
throughout the year, if it causes harm, for instance to farm animals.
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How does the Swedish government manage populations
of wolves, fox, lynx, deer, and bears using hunting, and why do these
populations need managing? That is the question I will be researching throughout
this project. First off, I would like to tell you that the Swedish wildlife
population is managed by limiting, or increasing the amount of time that
hunters in Sweden have to hunt different animals. Hunters generally are told
when they are allowed to hunt, this is most of the time, due to mating periods,
and other similar factors. However, there are animals that are allowed to be
hunted all year round. These are animals such as fox, that have a designated
hunting period, but they are allowed to be hunted if they cause trouble, for
instance, if they steal chickens or other farm animals. Fox also have a very
long hunting period due to their predatory ways and the large number of them.
In Sweden fox are allowed to be hunted between approximately the first of August
through to the 15th of March [Svenska
Jägare Förbundet, 2011]. On the contrary, there are animals that have very
strict hunting periods, or no hunting period at all. These animals are animals
such as wolves. Wolves have no hunting period, because they are not allowed to
be hunted at all. This is because the wolf population that Sweden has is not
big enough to be a good genetic material according to the EU [Lenart Norin,
2011]. Lynx also have the same situation, and are not allowed to be
hunted.
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