Lynx populations are on the decline all throughout Europe, and experts warn they will likely become "locally extinct" within the next three decades if governments do not implement immediate conservation measures.
But officials in Sweden want to do
the exact opposite. Instead of protecting this increasingly threatened species, the government has given hunters license to butcher hundreds of these animals this spring.
Sign the petition to demand the Swedish government reverse course and protect lynx from cruel hunting!To take down these majestic creatures, most hunters use dogs to track them down and kill them. This is a particularly brutal way to massacre these animals. It also comes just weeks after Sweden held
the largest killing of wolves in its country in modern memory.
Why is Sweden giving out these hunting licenses? Apparently, for fun. According to Svenska Jägareförbundet of the Swedish hunters' association:
"The hunt is absolutely not linked to any danger to humans. Neither is wolf hunting - there are no documented cases of wolves attacking humans in Swedish modern times. The lynx hunt is more about the excitement, and for some hunters, of course, the skin is the motivation."
Trophy hunts like this - hunting for fun and for "trinkets" like skins, heads, or other body parts - are illegal inside the European Union. The local chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Sweden has reported this violation of regulations to the EU Commission. But who knows how long it will take them to intervene? And
by that point, hundreds of vulnerable lynx could be dead.It is disgusting and cruel for Swedish officials to coddle trophy hunters like this. The government must revoke these hunting licenses now, and instead pass measures to increase protections for the lynx! Sign the petition before it's too late!