Sweden's annual brown bear hunting season began on Wednesday, with the country's environmental protection agency saying a total of 486 animals could be shot this year. 

But animal welfare groups are warning that the quotas are too high and say that this year's hunting would result in a 20% drop in the brown bear population. 

"If you want the population to remain stable at around the 2,400 animals we estimate today, you can only shoot about 250 bears annually," said ecologist Jonas Kindberg from a Swedish-Norwegian bear preservation project.

He said that killing nearer 500 animals "can quickly have major consequences that can become critical for the bear population." 

Strict hunting quotas set each season

Sweden has strict regional controls on hunting large predators like wolves and bears, with local areas setting quotas for the number of animals that can be killed each season. The stated aim of the hunt is to regulate population numbers, and prevent harm to domestic animals and reindeer. 

These quotas are often met very quickly as hunting enthusiasts rush to participate. 

The Svenska Jakt hunting journal reported on Wednesday that more than 70 bears had been killed in the opening hours of the season.

One region, Varmland to the west of Stockholm, had already called off its hunt by roughly lunchtime after the three bears it allocated had been killed, the same journal reported. 

Seventy percent of Sweden is covered in forests, well above average for Europe, and the wintery country retains populations of wild predators like wolves, wolverines, brown bears and lynx. 

Quotas falling, but so is the estimated bear population

Brown bear hunting season in Sweden lasts either until October 15, or until the 486 permitted animals have been shot. 

Last year's quota was a record high, at 649 animals, while it was 622 in 2022 and 501 in 2021. 

The figures are calculated based on estimates of Sweden's total bear population.

The country's environmental protection agency estimated this population to be around 2,800 at the conclusion of 2022's hunting season. Provisional figures for the autumn of 2023 point to a decline to around 2,450, however.

It's also legal in Sweden to kill bears in self-defense, with these very rare cases not counted towards hunting totals. 

Activists say the permitted culls a 'pure trophy hunt' 

The carnivore protection group Sweden's Big Five said in a press release ahead of the season starting that "100 years of brown bear conservation progress is right now being undone at an alarming speed. Mainly because of the high hunting quotas permitted by the Swedish government."

Magnus Orrebant, a member of Sweden's Big Five, told the Associated Press that bear hunting in Sweden was "very much about pure trophy hunt," saying it had more to do with killing the animals than preserving them or controlling their numbers.

The group argues that allowing limited bear hunting is not compatible with the EU designating brown bears as a "strictly protected species" and that Sweden's bear population is, in fact, fairly small and could be larger. 

It cites Japan's northern island of Hokkaido as an example, saying its brown bear population is around five times larger than Sweden's, in an area that's around five times smaller than Sweden and three times more densely populated.

No hunting in Norway, similar rules in Finland

Neighboring Norway bans the hunting of brown bears, while Finland has a similar system to Sweden's that is only open to hunters who obtain a special license. The Finnish brown bear hunting season opened on Tuesday.

Females with cubs and cubs younger than one year are protected in both Finland and Sweden, but activists warn this can be more difficult in practice than in theory. 

"Bears take three to four years to mature, they only have a few cubs at a time and only every two to three years. During the hunt it is very difficult to tell females from males, and the females are much more valuable to the population," Jonas Kindberg said.

msh/lo (AP, dpa)