Swedish police see surge in tips on illegal hunting drones

Police in northern Sweden are receiving a growing number of tips about drones being used illegally to hunt moose, Yle reports, citing the newspaper Norrländska Socialdemokraten.

Joacim Lundqvist, who handles hunting and wildlife matters for the police’s northern region, said the problem is most prevalent in the Tornio Valley and northern Lapland. He said the number of tips has practically doubled year on year.

Since the start of the moose-hunting season, police have received about 30 tips, with three to five more arriving each week, Lundqvist told the newspaper.

Police have gone to locations after receiving urgent tips in attempts to catch suspected poachers, but no case has led to a report. Drones can be difficult to spot, Lundqvist said, and users can land them quickly.

He said some people use drones to make hunting more efficient so they can sell more meat and earn more money. Drones can locate game before a hunt or drive a moose in a chosen direction. Lundqvist described them as highly effective, noting that they have become cheaper and more capable, with long range, extended flight time, thermal cameras and regular cameras.

Mika Seurujärvi, a wilderness inspector in Fell Lapland, said he had also received tips about drones being used for hunting, though he had not encountered a case himself. Lapland criminal inspector Miska Sillanpää said no crime report about drone use in hunting had been filed there.

Finland’s Hunting Act prohibits the use of moving motorised devices while hunting. Using a drone to film moose for another purpose is allowed. Metsähallitus said in 2019 that its field surveillance had learned of cases in which drones were used over lakes to drive game towards hunters. A senior field-surveillance inspector described that practice as unequivocally prohibited.