Yle finds split approach to North Karelia bear hunt

Hunters differed over whether to target bears that had caused damage during this autumn’s hunt in North Karelia, an investigation by Yle found. The Finnish Wildlife Agency recommended focusing on bears that had caused problems, but permits did not require hunters to do so.

Yle compared the agency’s records of bears killed with Finnish Food Authority data on compensated bear damage. The map shows how close bears were killed to places where damage had previously been reported, including attacks on domestic animals, beehives and feed bales. It does not show all reported problems: permits could also be based on repeated visits to yards or encounters in which a bear posed a threat to people.

In Lieksa, two bears were killed less than five kilometres from the town centre. In Tohmajärvi, one was shot less than three kilometres from the municipal centre. In Ilomantsi, some bears were killed in sparsely populated areas near the border.

Markus Ahponen, who coordinated hunting in Ilomantsi, said the local permit area chose to conduct a population-management hunt. The aim was to reduce the overall number of bears, rather than necessarily target the individuals responsible for damage. Bear damage tends to occur in spring and late autumn, he said, while during the hunting season bears are in the forest where food is available. That makes it very difficult to identify and hunt the same bears.

Ilomantsi had 26 bear permits, all used within four days. Ahponen said reports of bears in yards came from across the municipality. Hunters also wanted to preserve a traditional approach, tracking bears with dogs rather than hunting near rubbish bins or feed bales. The law prohibits using food as bait.

The decision was allowed under the permit conditions. A permit required bears to have caused problems or damage somewhere in the area covered, but did not require hunters to focus on the exact locations where those problems had occurred. Ilomantsi’s joint permit area covers 300,000 hectares, an area equal to Helsinki, Turku, Tampere and Jyväskylä combined.

Juha Kuittinen, the Finnish Wildlife Agency’s game chief for North Karelia, said targeting was sufficiently addressed when permits were granted. A bear that causes damage in spring may not be in the same place in autumn, he said, and a male bear’s range in North Karelia can cover 400,000 hectares.

North Karelia had 118 bear-killing permits this autumn, and they were used within a month. It is difficult to estimate what share of the bears killed had themselves caused damage.