Police concerned about huge increase in work caused by large carnivores

Of the large carnivores living in Finland, bears and wolves in particular regularly cause work for the police. These are situations in which a bear or wolf is assessed as posing a danger to people's lives or safety. The duty of the police is to maintain public order and security, in which role they have powers under the Police Act to take measures involving animals to eliminate danger and even, as a last resort, to put an animal down. Before putting an animal down, the police may issue orders for it to be driven away.

The number of orders issued by the police to drive away and kill bears and wolves has greatly increased in recent years. In 2022, the police issued a total of nine orders for driving away or putting down a bear in situations where the animal was considered as posing a danger to human safety. Since 2022, the numbers have been steadily increasing, with 14 such decisions being made by the police in 2023 and 38 last year. By mid-August this year, 49 decisions related to bears had had to be made. In the whole of 2024, the police issued 22 orders to put down wolves, whereas by mid-August this year, they had already had to issue 36 such orders.

“Although these decisions are low in terms of numbers, the percentual increase is high. Besides which, it should be noted that not only bears, but also wolves have caused significantly more police duties related to public order and security than in previous years,” notes Chief Superintendent Tuomo Korhonen. 

The police interpret the situation as being that the rise in the number of tasks for the police is due to the increase in large carnivore populations and the decrease in the timidity of large carnivores to humans. The increase in large carnivore populations is likely to have been mainly due to the suspension of population-management hunting in recent years. For example, there has been no bear hunting since 2023.

The police consider the situation to be a difficult one. The police are not a game management authority and nor do their duties include the management or regulation of game populations.

”The police have a duty to act in situations where a large carnivore poses a danger to people's lives or health. However, in the view of the police, the population management measures of large carnivores need to be so good that the police are only required to carry out these tasks in exceptional cases,” notes Assistant Police Commissioner Vesa Pihajoki.

Timidity of large carnivores to humans should be maintained

Finland's large carnivore population must be regulated through population management measures and their timidity to humans must be maintained in order to prevent the need for police action. If the timidity of bears, for example, decreases or disappears, as seems to be the case now, they will probably move more and more into the vicinity of human settlements, causing concrete dangerous situations and increasing insecurity in humans in the process. The National Police Board has, In its statements, regularly supported the hunting of bears as well as of other large carnivores, especially wolves, for population management purposes. It is the view of the police that hunting would prevent threats and dangerous situations caused by large carnivores.  

Professional hunter community ensures good cooperation

Game management associations maintain their readiness to assist the police authorities in situations such as tracking, putting down or driving away large carnivores. The hunters, dog handlers and hunting clubs involved operate on a vol-untary basis. In any case, the police's own resources alone are not enough to deal with these situations. The National Police Board considers it necessary to take all measures to maintain the competence and skills of hunters also in rela-tion to the hunting of large carnivores. Cooperation between hunters and the police is extremely important and socially significant.