Jönköping County is resuming lynx licence hunting in 2027, while Kalmar and Kronoberg are cutting their quotas. The decisions reported on the same day answer the apparent contradiction: regional inventory assessments, rather than one national switch for or against hunting, are driving the different outcomes.
Jönköping County Administrative Board has decided to resume licence hunting after no lynx could be shot there in 2026. SVT reports that the county had then fallen short of its target of eight to 11 annual reproductions. The reported population has since risen to about 70 lynx, and the county board says hunting can proceed while retaining a margin for favourable conservation status. The hunting period is scheduled for March 2027. The material supplied does not state Jönköping’s numerical quota.
Kalmar’s quota will be 14 lynx in 2027, down from 16 this year. Anette Andersson, a department head at the county administrative board, said the latest inventory had found a small decline in the county’s lynx population. SVT reports 11 family groups there, corresponding to at least 60 lynx. Kronoberg’s quota falls from eight to six. Its county administrative board reports at least 44 lynx and says it will exclude areas where it cannot demonstrate that lynx have spread.
That makes this more than a broad argument about whether Sweden should permit lynx hunting. The same species and the same 2027 hunting period can produce different administrative decisions when local populations are assessed differently. SVT reports around 1,500 lynx across Sweden, above the reference value of 870 for favourable conservation status. That national figure helps explain the authorities’ view that management remains possible; it does not determine a defensible quota in each county.
The strongest counterargument is the authorities’ own position that these decisions leave a healthy population with a substantial margin. That does not remove the case for transparency. With Jönköping reopening hunting while two neighbouring counties reduce their quotas, the full decisions should be available for public scrutiny of how inventories, geographic limits and quotas were connected.
Sources
- SVT Nyheter · Source date: 2026-11-12
- SVT Nyheter · Source date: 2026-11-12
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-12