A new management policy for brown bears in Norway

摘要

The management of brown bears and other large carnivores is politically controversial in Norway. Because sheep and domestic reindeer usually graze unguarded, the depredation losses, and consequently the compensation costs, are high. For example, for the 2011 grazing season, the Norwegian state paid US$ 12 million to compensate farmers for sheep suspected to have been killed by large carnivores and US$ 12.7 million for domestic reindeer, in addition to payments to support measures to reduce the levels of loss. Based on the compensation statistics, brown bears were suspected to have killed 3,871 sheep and lambs. Thus, large carnivores in Norway constitute a difficult problem for farmers and reindeer owners and a great expense for taxpayers.