Response to interpellation 2024/25:661 on wolf hunting
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD argues that the government, through active work, has paved the way to reduce the wolf population 1 and that the wolf's protection status in the EU directive is being lowered to provide greater room for maneuver 1. KD claims that the wolf population is smaller today than when the government took office 2 and that the quotas were almost met during the last two years 3. KD will change the reference value to enable higher hunting pressure 4 and has allocated extra funds for wolf inventory 4. S argues that the wolf hunt has gone in the wrong direction as the allocation has decreased from 75 to 30 wolves 5 and that the allocation must be significantly increased 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Patrik Björck has asked me how I intend to ensure that the next license hunt means that we approach the wolf population that I and the government have promised the voters.
I want to begin by stating that through a number of measures we have paved the way for our goal of reducing the wolf population, and now we see results in several ways. We have, among other things, purposefully pushed the process for the wolf's protection status to be changed in the EU's Habitats Directive. A change of the wolf's protection status from strictly protected to protected gives us greater room for maneuver so that we can manage the wolf population in a more adapted and goal-oriented manner, while simultaneously ensuring that the population maintains a favorable conservation status. We are now in the absolute final stage of that process.
To create better conditions for upcoming hunting, the government has, among other things, given several agencies different assignments aimed at streamlining wolf management and reducing the population. We have also tasked the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency with initiating the process of reviewing the distribution of the minimum levels for wolves. The new minimum levels to be developed shall be based on the lower reference value that we intend to report. It is important that these are established in time so as not to delay the implementation of our goal of reducing the population.
The Government has proposed extra funds in the supplementary budget for 2025 for the inventory of wolves, which among other things forms the basis for the license hunting decisions.
In addition to these initiatives, we have previously tasked the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) to update the guidelines for protection hunting of wolves. In the updated guidelines, for example, the level at which protection hunting can be granted in cases of attacks on dogs, sheep, and goats is lowered. In order to achieve the predator policy goals, it is important that the tools available to prevent serious damage to, for example, domestic animals are well-designed and function as well as possible to fulfill their purpose.
Patrik Björck (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister for Rural Affairs!
The promised reduction of the wolf population down to 170 individuals is good. When I and the Minister for Rural Affairs discuss these issues, we may not be completely in agreement, but we are often almost in agreement. The decision is moving in the right direction.
The problem is that the development in practice has gone in the wrong direction during Peter Kullgren's time as responsible for the issue. The number of wolves that have been culled during the license hunt has decreased during the two years so far during Peter Kullgren's term, expressed in hunting terms. Now, two occasions remain to show that it is not just words but that the words are also accompanied by action.
After the summer, a decision on license hunting of wolves is expected. It is the third decision during Peter Kullgren's term, Mr. Speaker. If it is to be serious, the decision must at least involve 100 wolves in the allocation. Furthermore, the methods for the wolf hunt must be such that the result corresponds to the allocation. In recent years, the number of wolves shot has been far below the number in the decision. It was against this background that I asked the question regarding how the minister has acted to approach the wolf population that he has promised the voters.
If one looks at what has actually happened, one sees that when Peter Kullgren became responsible, a decision was made regarding an allocation of 36 wolves. It was the first decision taken under Peter Kullgren's responsibility. It was more than a halving compared to the previous year's allocation, when it was a Social Democratic-led government. Peter Kullgren's first contribution to handling the issue was thus to more than halve the allocation.
The next decision came in 2024, and then it was 30 wolves. It was not a halving compared to 36, but it was another reduction after a sharp reduction. There we have an example: 30 were allocated, but 25 were culled as a result of the hunt. There are thus two problems for Peter Kullgren to solve.
Mr. Speaker! Now Peter Kullgren has the opportunity to influence the allocation before the 2025 and 2026 decisions; those are the decisions that exist. At some point after the summer, the third opportunity will come, and now I want to give Peter Kullgren an opportunity in advance to give notice to the rural population, to the livestock owners, and to the hunters on how to proceed.
We are, as I could state, Mr. Speaker, in agreement in words, but I see no result on the ground. I hope that Peter Kullgren during the two years so far has worked so hard that we can get a decision that is in line with this, but when one hears the answer here in the chamber, one can actually become a little worried. It concerns the extra funds that have been proposed in the supplementary budget for 2025. That would, in that case, mean a lost year, Mr. Speaker – I cannot interpret it in any other way. It cannot yield any result until the 2026 decision.
I hope that I misinterpreted the Minister for Rural Affairs' answer and that we will see a substantial allocation before the wolf hunt after the summer.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I am truly pleased that Patrik Björck is so engaged in this issue and places his hope in me and the bourgeois government. I believe the member knows that if the Social Democrats were to take over government power again, the development in wolf policy, not least if one has the support of the Green Party, would immediately come to a standstill and likely head in the same direction as it did during the time when the Social Democrats were in government. We have seen that before, and the member is well aware of that.
As I mentioned in my previous post, before the upcoming license hunt, we will be ready with an adjusted reference value, which is now possible to change. It has not been possible for six years. When the opportunity existed last time, it was the Social Democrats who were in power, and then it was not changed. We have already begun the preparatory measures so that the changes can take effect immediately, already at the next hunt.
Patrik Björck mentioned that the number of wolves shot during the license hunts in recent years has been far below the number that was decided. Let me clarify that the quotas were almost fulfilled during the license hunts over the last two years. In 2025, 25 of 30 wolves were shot, and in 2024, 35 of 36 wolves were shot. 5 wolves remained of the allocation during this year's hunt because the hunt was cancelled in a territory when no traces of more wolves were found in that hunting area. As for 2023, when I was also rural affairs minister, and the historical allocation then, one did not reach 75 shot wolves that year. Hardly 60 were shot, which is nevertheless the highest number so far.
One of the reasons why wolves may remain after the allocation is that the decisions are to be made before anything is known about the current situation for wolf territories regionally. Inventory data may become somewhat outdated. To address this, we are currently reviewing the regulations that limit when regional license hunting decisions for wolves can be made. We have received a proposal from Naturvårdsverket in that regard.
Patrik Björck (S)
Mr. Speaker! What I know is that the actual allocation for license hunting has more than halved during Peter Kullgren's time. What I know, with reference to the previous debate where Peter Kullgren said that we should produce more lamb meat in Sweden, is that we will produce less lamb meat in Sweden as long as Peter Kullgren's wolf policy remains in effect. That I know.
Then, Mr. Speaker, it is important that we keep track of the facts. The decision on an allocation of 75 wolves was made sometime in August or September 2022. I do not remember the exact date when Kullgren took office as Minister for Rural Affairs, but I will go with October 2022. I find it very difficult to see how Peter Kullgren could have influenced that decision.
That decision regarding 75 wolves that Peter Kullgren now wants to take the credit for was, therefore, taken during a Social Democratic-led government. Everything else is, excuse me, to cast a fog for those listening to this debate. It is actually not correct. Furthermore, I do not believe it was 60 wolves that were culled, but 57. I am a bit unsure, but perhaps we should not bicker about it. The important thing is that when we had the responsibility, we also took the responsibility to ensure that it worked.
Then we have a small problem – my second reflection in the question to the Minister for Rural Affairs: The allocation must be increased significantly. Peter Kullgren has failed to do this so far. I know that. The forms for the hunt are so complicated that it is very difficult to achieve the allocation. That was, among other things, what the Minister for Rural Affairs himself demonstrated here, that it is difficult.
It is old figures based on the previous winter, on tracking and other things, and on how one has assessed which territories exist and how many there are. One could naturally open up the forms so that the allocation can be reached faster. One could have freer shooting in more territories. One could review the forms so that the allocation can be achieved.
It is also the form of the hunt that Peter Kullgren bypasses a bit, which I pointed out in my post. It is not enough with the allocation, one must also ensure that the number of wolves that one has arrived at is actually shot.
We have discussed this before, and for those listening, it may sound as if we think very similarly – apart from the fact that I might become a bit more engaged now that Peter Kullgren is presenting direct inaccuracies in the chamber. But I will, of course, continue to interpellate the Minister for Rural Affairs on this issue. I thought it was an appropriate time to do so now.
Apart from this incorrect information, I thought that Peter Kullgren in his answer had some kind of hope of turning the falling curve – which Peter Kullgren is responsible for – so that it goes upwards again. I truly hope that happens.
From what I have understood from the investigation that has been conducted, we have somewhere between 355 and 400 wolves in Sweden today. If one is to go down to 170 wolves, it is clear that there must be a substantial allocation to achieve that goal.
Twice more I can almost promise that I will return if we get to live and have our health and Peter Kullgren remains as Minister for Rural Affairs. In the autumn of 2025 I will return and check in, and in the spring of 2026 I will return before the autumn of 2026.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Patrik Björck naturally has the right to present the situation exactly as he wishes – even if, speaking of fog, Patrik Björck spreads fog like the worst November morning. But the fact remains: the wolf pack is smaller today than when this government took office.
I wonder if Patrik Björck means what he writes – that the development has gone in the wrong direction during this mandate period. Does the member seriously mean that the government has let the development go in the wrong direction when we, through active advocacy work, have contributed to the fact that the wolf's protection status will be lowered in the Habitats Directive in a few days? Does the member really mean that the government's work to update the guidelines for protection hunting of wolves means that the development has gone in the wrong direction?
We have adjusted the rules so that fewer attacks on dogs or domestic animals are now required before protection hunting can be granted. It is a clear improvement that strengthens safety for animal owners and not a step backward.
Under the previous government, did the development actually go in the right direction then? The Member of Parliament is, of course, welcome to refer to the license hunt in 2023, where the allocation was 75 wolves. But that was a direct result of a passive government that previously had allowed the wolf population to increase, not decrease. You will never get away from that. It is a fact that is completely untouchable. The wolf population is smaller now than it was then.
At the first opportunity when it is possible to change a reference value during this parliamentary term, the government will also do so. The previous government should have already done so – a long time ago.
Patrik Björck (S)
Mr. Speaker! Yes, the protection hunt is good. It has become better. It can certainly become even better. That is what we agree on. I have not questioned that here.
My interpellation is about – and now it is important that those who are listening really listen – wolf hunting. It is the wolf hunting that has gone in the wrong direction. That is where the development has gone in the wrong direction during Peter Kullgren's time. It has gone from 75 to 36 to 30. For those of us who want to more than halve the wolf population, one cannot more than halve the allocation in the hunt. That is what has gone in the wrong direction. That is what I am saying here, nothing else.
Now I hope, Mr. Speaker, that the Minister for Rural Affairs does as he has promised so that he can go out to the rural residents – to the sheep owners, the horse owners, the hunters and the dog owners – and look them in the eye and show results in practice. I hope so. I hope that we will stand here and be very much in agreement this autumn, when I return with this interpellation to, so to speak, check if the interpellation debate I have had with the Minister for Rural Affairs has yielded results. I hope that I will not be as disappointed as I have been every autumn during Peter Kullgren's time as Minister for Rural Affairs, when the development has gone in the wrong direction when it comes to the hunt for wolves.
The protection effort is going in the right direction, absolutely, but not so much that it has been able to halve the wolf population – and we need to halve it more than that if we are to get down to these 170 individuals that we are nevertheless in agreement on.
Yes, it is very good that we have worked actively in the EU. It was a task that the previous government started, but it is very good that Peter Kullgren has taken over that baton. I thank Peter Kullgren for that.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I believe those who are initiated in the wolf discussion and who are listening to this debate will agree with me when I say that it almost becomes a bit comical to listen to Patrik Björck, who I know has a full grasp of how the previous government conducted the wolf policy.
It went the wrong way. The number of wolves increased and increased and increased, to the extent that one could finally decide on such a high culling as 75 wolves. After that, the wolf population has decreased, and it is now at a significantly lower level than when we started.
But it is also important to point out, and most those initiated who are listening to this debate know this, that the number of wolves that can be shot also depends on which reference value has been reported. Why did the Social Democratic government not report a different reference value? They remained at a reference value of 300. We are now going to change that. It will mean that we can have a higher hunting pressure on the wolf.
We have also, as we have said, lowered the wolf's protection status at the EU level. The processes for adjusting the reference value and the new minimum levels are in full swing and should be completed well in advance. We have allocated extra funds for wolf inventory, and work is also currently underway to remove the restrictions on when regional hunting license decisions can be made.
All this combined shall lead to a more effective hunt, now and in the future, which takes us closer to our goal of a reduced wolf population.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.