Bear hunting to resume in southern Finland after court rejects suspension request

Bear hunting will resume in southern Finland next Thursday after nearly three years, Yle reports. The Eastern Finland Administrative Court rejected a request to suspend the enforcement of special permits issued for the hunt.

The court considered the case after the July permits were challenged. The Tapiola Karelia Nature Conservation Association appealed 24 permits granted for Lieksa, demanding that they be revoked or, at minimum, that the carcasses of hunted bears could not be used. The appeal also sought a suspension of the ban’s enforcement concerning the use of the carcasses.

Bear hunting will run from August 20 until the end of October.

A total of 182 special permits were issued by the Finnish Wildlife Agency in July for hunting bears outside the reindeer herding area. Most were granted in North Karelia, where 118 bears may be killed this autumn.

The quotas are 24 bears in southeastern Finland, 14 in South Savo, nine in Kainuu, eight in North Savo and nine in Central Finland.

Bears have not been hunted outside the reindeer herding area since 2023 because the special permits have been challenged every year and courts have ordered their enforcement suspended.

In June, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the special permits issued last year for the Joensuu and Eno game management areas were lawful.