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HUNTING

Poacher who killed 131 animals ‘must pay’

A former auxiliary wildlife officer convicted in the biggest poaching case to ever hit the canton of Jura has been ordered by Switzerland’s top court to pay close to 100,000 francs in damages to the canton.

Published: 12 March 2013 22:27 CET

Poacher who killed 131 animals ‘must pay’

A pair of roe deer. In what is described as Jura's worst poaching case, a former wildlife officer killed 87 of them, in addition to 44 other animals. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The 40-year-old man was found guilty in 2009 of illegally killing a total of 131 animals between November 2002 and August 2006 and received a suspended jail term of 18 months.

He appealed an additional 91,000-franc penalty for damages to the canton fixed by the cantonal court of Jura in April 2012.

But the Swiss supreme court upheld the damages in a decision released on Tuesday.

The officer killed 87 roe deer, eight chamois, 26 hares, nine boar and an owl.

A fellow poacher illegally killed 12 roe deer, two hares and two boars, while another two hunters were sentenced earlier in the case.

The country’s top court ruled that federal law permits cantons and municipalities the right to see compensation for damages caused by poaching equivalent to the “value of the animal illegally killed”.

The convicted man is also required to share in the cost of paying a further 20,000-franc penalty with the three other poachers.

When the case first went to trial in November 2009, the prosecutor described the four men as “an organized gang that brought the law into their own hands in the forests of Franches-Montagnes (a district in the canton of Jura).

The former wildlife officer was previously banned from hunting in Switzerland for 10 years.

The other three culprits, including a brother of the auxiliary officer, received suspended jail terms and fines.

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Swedish regions raise limits on bear-hunting to combat attacks on reindeer

A hunter prepares to go out on the first day of the bear-hunting season in Sweden. Photo: Adam Ihse / TT

Jämtland is doubling the amount of bears that are allowed to be killed in the region this year to 200.

The decision comes after the regional bear population has grown to 1,044 at the last count. Jämtland is hoping that the expanded license will reduce the number of bears to around 650.

“We have assessed that the heavy expansion of licensed hunting is necessary, partly to reduce the bear population to the regional target within five years,” said Emma Andersson, who is in charge of managing game and hunting for the region.

Sweden allows some licensed hunting of bears, partly because of their interference with reindeer herding, one of the main economic sectors in northern Sweden for Indigenous Sámi people.

There are around 1,000 reindeer herding companies in Sweden, and an estimated 2,500 people are dependent on incomes from reindeer herding, according to the website of the Sámi parliament.

The presence of predators in northern Sweden has become a complicated political issue as they pose a great threat to the sustainable farming practices of the Sámi. The Sámi parliament estimates that one quarter of reindeer are killed by predators each year, significantly higher than the ten percent limit set by parliament.

At the same time, the hunting of bears and other predators like wolves must be strictly overseen by the region due to their protected status.

The increased allowance for hunting bears in Jämtland is directed specifically towards areas where there is a clear link that it could harm the reindeer herding industry, according to the regional board.

Similar decisions have been taken in Västerbotten, where 85 bears can be killed this year compared to 25 in the previous year, and in Västernorrland where they are allowing 75, almost doubling the previous year’s figure.

While no decision has been taken yet in Norrbotten, the hunting association is demanding similar measures, as 20 bears were shot last year during the hunt and another 60 through emergency measures to protect reindeer.

The licensed hunting period takes place between August 21st and October 15th in Norrbotten every year, with some exceptions.

A count by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency found that there were around 2,900 bears in total in Sweden as of 2017.

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