This year’s license hunt for wolves has started in Värmland and ends on February 15. Already during the start, a group of wolf activists has disrupted the hunt. Anders Olsson, chairman of the Hunters’ Association in Värmland, says that it started on Thursday morning.
– We had located a wolf and sat outside in the area. Then these activists came with two cars and were spread out in the area, one on the west side and one on the east side. They sat masked in their cars with sunglasses, dressed in black and black hoods. They drove around with the windows rolled down and played loud music where the aim is to scare and disturb the hunters who are out on the site, he says.
Photographed the house: “Unpleasant”
He believes that the activists are also chasing after the hunters and that the pattern and behavior is recognizable from previous years. According to Anders, some of the hunters were also photographed during the hunt. During Friday, the wolf activists got even closer, somewhat P4 Extra was the first to report on.
– On Friday evening they were at my house. They stood and posed with their flag that they have. They took pictures and posted it on social media, says Anders Olsson.
How did it feel?
– It is very offensive. You enter the private sphere when you enter the plot boundary. Above all, it will be very unpleasant for the family. They are also affected by this and find it unpleasant. They are not concerned and participate in the hunt, so I think they have overstepped.
Reported to the police
Anders Olsson does not feel directly threatened, but he feels offended that the activists came so close.
– There are a number of police reports drawn up for the various incidents. There are also destroyed hunting towers in the area. We cannot say who did it, but it has also been reported, he says.
He believes that the activists are going too far – but at the same time understands that there are different opinions.
– I have full respect and understanding that you can have different opinions on the wolf issue and how many wolves we should have. There are those who want us to have more and those who want us to have fewer. But you need to deal with it via our democratic processes, he says.
The answer: Are satisfied with our resistance
The wolf activist group themselves have commented on the whole thing on their social media where they believe that it is their duty to resist the hunters and protect the wolf.
“We are satisfied with our resistance so far, even though the hunters have tried to both prevent and reduce it. Hunting is not a democratic decision and it is our duty to resist. We mourn the wolves who lost their lives and are tormented by this now out in the forests. We also fear that the reason why no wolves are found in the Salungenreviret in Värmland is precisely because of the hunters and that these wolves met their fate earlier than during the license hunt. If that is true, the importance of our activism increases even more. As long as the hunters take the right to kill innocents, we take the right to try to stop them,” the group writes on Facebook.