Finnish group challenges bear permits and seeks ban on carcass use

Luonnonsuojeluliitto Tapiola Karelia has appealed a decision allowing 24 bears to be killed in Lieksa, eastern Finland, and is seeking a ban on the use of the carcasses, Yle reports.

The appeal, filed with the East Finland Administrative Court, primarily calls for the permits to be annulled. Alternatively, it seeks to overturn the decision insofar as it allows hunters to possess the carcass or parts of a bear killed under an exceptional permit.

The group is also seeking a ban on enforcing the decision concerning possession of the carcass or its parts and transferring them into the hunter’s ownership. It has asked the court to seek a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union before handling the case.

The appeal deadline ends on Tuesday. Tapiola Karelia is the regional organisation of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation. Neither organisation responded to Yle’s requests for comment before publication.

Sauli Härkönen, head of public administration duties at the Finnish Wildlife Agency, said he was surprised by the demand to prohibit the use of bear carcasses.

“It would mean that the killed bear would go to the state or be destroyed,” Härkönen said.

The appeal does not seek to suspend the exceptional permits themselves, so hunting could currently begin in Lieksa on August 20. However, the court could suspend the use of the animals killed.

In practice, the meat and hides would have to be stored while the legal process continued, Härkönen said.

He said allowing bear hunting while banning the use of the carcasses would represent a major change in Finnish bear hunting. Taking possession of the catch, respecting it and making use of it have traditionally been part of Finnish hunting, he said.

Bear hides and skulls have traditionally been preserved as hunting trophies. The meat has also been eaten by hunters or sold to restaurants.

Bear hunting has been suspended outside the reindeer herding area

The Finnish Wildlife Agency granted exceptional permits in July to hunt a total of 182 bears next autumn. The permits cover the eastern and central management areas outside the reindeer herding area, with most issued in North Karelia, which has Finland’s strongest bear population.

Bears have not been hunted outside the reindeer herding area since 2023 because of appeals against the permits. Each year, appeals have led administrative courts to suspend the permits. Proceedings have taken so long that the bear hunting season, which ends in late October, has expired before the cases were resolved.

In June, Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled that permits granted last year to kill 15 bears in the Joensuu and Eno hunting management areas were lawful. The East Finland Administrative Court had previously annulled the permits.

Proposed change would replace exceptional permits

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has proposed replacing exceptional permits with a quota-based system for bear hunting. Under the proposal, the ministry would decide annual regional quotas for bear hunting, and the quotas could not be appealed.

The consultation period for the legislative amendment ended last week. If approved, quota-based hunting could begin next autumn.