'Bears most feared by Swedes': report

Saw an old Kieth Floyd program the other day. H was cooking Bear steaks out in the wilds. Claims they are very good with low Cholesterol

I went to a Julbord in southerna Dalarna a couple of years ago where roast bear was one of the cold cuts on offer as well as moose and wild boar sausage :-)

Well the Viking Bears I know are all very friendly :-)

The rising bear population calls for concerted efforts to educate hikers and nature lovers on how to react when they encounter bears in wild. Keep as far away as possible unless you are a wild life photogropher, zoologist, an expert on the subject or any thing like that. Keep twice as far away if it is a Mama bear with her Baby bear or Papa bear with his supper. I think it would be nice to offer a cool bear lady in fur coat a beer.

In Minnisota there are Vikings who fear The Bears as well!

As far as I know (expat Brit), bears are only dangerous when they have cubs near. Almost all bear attacks occur when they are out to protect thier young. Ive seen adders and have hear stories of ppl seeing wolves (even in the center of Stockholm) . Seems to me wolves are still suffering from bad press, i sympathize with farmers who lose sheep but it is only natural behaviour on the wolves part and a price we pay for having such wonderful animals living wild in our forests. I would suggest the goverment covers the price of such attacks on sheep and other farm animals. Bring back shepherds as a job creation measure ;), there are ways to combat attacks; we arent living in the middle ages any longer.

My grandmother was a shepherd in the late 1800's/early 1900's in the Are area. She wound up having a bear killed that was attacking her sheep. Apparently her grandfather was quite prolific at killing bears and wolves....but it seems he must have missed one or two. One of the bears did get even...it bit his leg and he walked with a bit of a limp after that for the rest of his life.

We have an estimated 60,000 black bears in Ontario. I live in rural eastern Ontario and have seen bears on numerous occassions. 99.9% of the time a bear will run when it sees a human. About once every ten years there is a bear attack, but its almost always when the human encounters a mother with cubs.

I run on forest trails with my dog where we know there are bears. He wears a bell on his dog collar to warn them we are in the area and no bear ever bothers us. They will always avoid humans.

One of the things I love best about Sweden...there are not so may people.

I really hope swedish predator policy is not going back from the state-supported protection to state-supported persecution. It's sad, that the hunters and reindeer industry have too much political power....

I love these posts.....no reason why we cant live side by side with these wonderful animals. Certainly farmers are entitled to be upset when they lose their sheep, but as a wealthy society surely we can compensate the farmers accordingly.....I saw a bear playing with her cubs once and it was a wonderful experience....We were quite close and they took no notice of us whatsoever.....

"It's sad, that the hunters and reindeer industry have too much political power.... "

Its not just Sweden. At least Ontario banned the spring bear hunt several years ago, but there was strong opposition from those involved in the hunting industry.

Several years ago B.C. allowed a wolf cull. One of the top B.C. politicians had an elk/deer hunting business on the side, so the advice of the conservationists and scientists against the hunt was ignored. Political corruption at its finest..

Yes, I know, predators has always been highly controversial subject in many countries, the conflicts with the human beings are always the main reason. However, the Swedish Parliament has decided to ensure the long-term survival of our predators! Why conflicts? The parliament also points out that maintaining reindeer industry, hunting etc are national goals.Can we balance these goals? It will be difficult... Ok, we have grants to compensate/prevent for damage...but its not enough ...the hunter dont want to chear the 'elk output' and the reindeer owner wants to keep the reindeers for himself. According to the swedish predator policy, predators are allowed to spread within the limits of their natural range (central and northern Sweden) but at the same time the Parliament has decided that the predators status in reindeer areas (around 40 % of the land area !) should not affect the reindeer industry. Almost impossible situation! Inhabitants in 'predator areas', reindeer owners and hunters claims that the decisions should be taken at the local level. Do they want to have this animals? NO...I dont think its right that these groups, who only look after their own interests, should form and rule the swedish predator policy. Predators in Sweden are listed in Red List, the bear is classified as 'near threatened', wolf as 'critically endangered' and so on...Last week they discovered a wolf,who had moved from South to North Sweden, now the reindeer company will apply for permission to kill the wolf... How come that Sweden, a country who can't take care of its own predators have impudence to criticize Australien, Indien, Japan etc and their predator policy...

Wise people will arm themselves with the appropriate firearms to properly defend themselves from wild animals and violent humans. "Normal" people who go into the forest--are also at risk.

Minnesota, spell it correctly. You must be from chicocko.

Norling...Correcting others spelling and grammer for that matter, in this forum is expressly forbidden.

No rattlesnakes in Sweden, right? You're ahead of the game!