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Why Sweden wants you to collect bear poo

An unusual request has attracted a lot of attention in Swedish media: local county administrations need the public to collect bear poo for an important wildlife research project.

Published: 4 July 2024 10:48 CEST

Bear

Local county administrations are asking the public for help gathering bear excrement for a wildlife research project. Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash

A somewhat unusual request is echoing through the region of Västerbotten in Sweden.

The country administrative board is asking the public for help gathering bear excrement for a critical wildlife research project.

This initiative, conducted every five years, aims to assess the bear population’s size, distribution, and health across these areas.

How to do it

The task of collecting bear droppings is no small feat.

According to the county administration, around 2,000 samples are needed to ensure the study’s accuracy.

The logistics of collecting such a vast number of samples necessitate public involvement, so the administration depends heavily on those who visit Sweden’s forests and fields for assistance.

Kits are provided by the county authorities, but you can also stick the droppings in a clean bag or container and keep it in the freezer until you submit it. Just be careful not to touch the bear droppings so that you don’t contaminate them.

Wildlife research

Once collected, the samples are sent for DNA analysis, which helps determine the individual bear’s genetic makeup.

This data is necessary for calculating the number and distribution of the bear population.

By involving the public, the project also seeks to raise awareness about bears and their role in the Swedish ecosystem.

Talking to the newspaper Västerbottens-Kuriren, Jonas Gustafsson of the Västerbotten county administration emphasised the importance of widespread participation.

“The more samples we get, the better. With a large county… it is essential that hunters and the general public also send in droppings,” he said.

For those unsure about identifying bear droppings, Gustafsson provided some tips.

“A typical bear dropping contains a lot of blueberries, especially in autumn. And it is often quite a large pile.”

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Sweden releases 100 sturgeons in bid to bring extinct fish back to its rivers

In the opening act, 100 young sturgeons – transferred from a farm in Germany – were introduced into the waters of Göta älv.

“To be a person who has the possibility to re-introduce a species that has been extinct nationally, it’s a gift,” biologist Dan Calderon, who came up with the idea, told AFP.

“It’s probably the best thing I’ve done,” Calderon said.

Named Störens återkomst (“The return of the sturgeon”), the project is led by the Swedish Anglers Association, which is working with several universities and Gothenburg’s museum of natural history.

The species lived in the river until the late 19th century, but gradually disappeared due to overfishing and pollution.

Today, the river is much cleaner and conditions are again right for the sturgeon, which can measure over five metres (16 feet) and weigh more than 600 kilogrammes (270 pounds), according to the University of Gothenburg.

‘Hopeful’

“I also feel hopeful because this is really, really something good we are achieving here and this is a good start,” Linnea Jägrud, the project leader, told AFP.

The effects of the reintroduction on the river ecosystem will be closely studied by researchers.

Sturgeons feed off the bottom of the river, which helps oxygenate sediment on the riverbed, therefore benefitting the small creatures that live there.

Large sturgeons can also serve as a host fish for other species such as the sea lamprey.

“One hundred does not make a population, but with the ongoing work we will build up a strong population and we will keep working with restoring the river and restoring the coastal area outside,” Jägrud said.

Like salmon, the Atlantic sturgeon – recognisable by its pointed nose and scaleless skin – spends the first few years of its life in freshwater.

When it is large enough to tolerate salinity, it migrates to the sea in search of food and then returns to freshwater to spawn.

But it can take up to ten years for the river dweller to reproduce.

It will therefore be necessary to gradually reintroduce sturgeons every year for a decade so that they can form a population capable of surviving without human assistance, Jägrud explained.

European network

In order to map the characteristics of the river and its suitability for the species, acoustic telemetric receivers have been placed underwater and some fish fitted with transmitters to track their movements.

“These kinds of receivers are all over Europe, in European waters and also abroad,” Jägrud said.

“This means they’re all connected in the same tracking network meaning if ‘my’ fish go to Portugal or Spain or France or UK, the European tracking network will report back to me and I will know, oh, my fish released in June 2024, oh, it reached Italy,” she continued.

Spectators watching the release of the sturgeons. Photo: Adam Ihse/TT

A crowd gathered on June 18th on the shores of the Göta älv to witness the historic return.

“This is a place where very many Nordic countries had their meetings and big feasts,” said Miguel Odhner, mayor of the riverfront town Kungälv, explaining that royal guests often dined on the fish, which was caught in abundance at the time.

A sturgeon wriggles in the mayor’s hands before being plunged into the water, to the applause of the crowd.

“Now it’s time to pay back to nature,” Odhner said.

Article by AFP’s Olivier Feniet with Nioucha Zakavati in Stockholm

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