Greenland wants to shoot more polar bears

Residents and sheep farmers in the municipality of Kujalleq in southern Greenland are seeing more and more polar bears. Now, Mayor Stine Egede is appealing to have the quota for how many polar bears can be shot per year increased.

» Updated: August 26 2024

» Published: August 26 2024

Greenland wants to shoot more polar bears
Photo: Tore Meek/NTB/TT

The large stock has made the polar bears no longer afraid to enter residential areas. There are more and more polar bears coming to the sheep farms in the municipality, and it has so far led to two very dangerous situations, which fortunately were avoided, she says to Greenland's public service radio.

This year, the quota for polar bear hunting in Kujalleq has risen to 4 individuals and the limit was reached as early as March 13. Local politicians claim that at least 10-12 polar bears would be desirable.

The total quota for all of Greenland is 156.

Many polar bears come from the north with the drift ice, and due to climate changes, an unusually large number of bears have been spotted in Greenland this year.

Fernando Ugarte, biologist and department head at Greenland's Nature Institute, says that it is rather the Greenlanders' attitude towards polar bears that needs to change.

It's not an explosive growth. In countries like Norway and Canada, where people are used to living close to polar bears, they carry signal guns and have made adaptations that make it safer to live near the bears.

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By TTTranslated and adapted by Sweden Herald
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