Alaska News

EU criticism could stop wolf-hunting licenses in Sweden

There will be no licenses issued for hunting wolves this winter in Sweden, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency told Swedish Radio. Wolf hunting in Sweden during the winters of 2010 and 2011 was reported to the European Court, and the European Commission has criticised Sweden for issuing hunting licenses without having a plan of action for protecting and preserving the Scandinavian wolf tribe.

Ruona Burman, of the Environmental Protection Agency, told Swedish Radio that the Agency has not taken any measures to meet the demands of the European Commission, and therefore it can not be expected that wolf hunting be permitted this winter.

However. the news agency TT reports that Environment Minister Lena Ek is reluctant to confirm the agency's statements, saying that the decision of whether to issue hunting licenses depends on the result of ongoing assessments by the European Commission in Brussels.

This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.

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