Sweden issues licences to kill hundreds of lynx

Licences have been issued to allow 201 Eurasian Lynx to be hunted in Sweden this March.

This year's figure is more than double that permitted in recent years and is, officials say, to keep the population low enough to ensure there is no danger to livestock or humans.

However, conservationists describe the move as a form of trophy hunting. Animal rights group Svenska Rovdjursföreningen has started a petition calling for the trophy hunting of lynx to be halted. The organisation's Magnus Orrebrant said that "hundreds" of foreign hunters come to Sweden annual to try and shoot the species.

Some 201 licences have been issued to shoot Eurasian Lynx in Sweden this month (Martin Mecnarowski / commons.wikimedia.org).

The news comes hot on the heels of the biggest-ever cull of Wolves in Swedish history, with at least 54 individuals shot dead in the space of a month earlier this year.

Sweden's lynx population has fallen by around 300 in the past decade to some 1,450 individuals. Despite this decline, Swedish environmental protection agency argues that the country needs only 870 lynx for a healthy population to persist.

Additionally, the Swedish hunters' association, Svenska Jägareförbundet, has admitted that lynx and wolves pose no danger to humans.