Fear of Bears a Sensitive Subject in Sweden

Swedish researchers have delved into the Swedes’ attitudes toward wild animals they might encounter in the forest.
Fear of Bears a Sensitive Subject in Sweden
2/17/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/SWEDENSWEDEN." alt="A bear and her cubs at a zoo in Stockholm, Sweden. Unlike a few decades ago, Swedes fear coming across a bear the most in the wild, over any other animal. (Henrik Montgomery/AFP/Getty Images)" title="A bear and her cubs at a zoo in Stockholm, Sweden. Unlike a few decades ago, Swedes fear coming across a bear the most in the wild, over any other animal. (Henrik Montgomery/AFP/Getty Images)" width="300" class="size-medium wp-image-1822946"/></a>
A bear and her cubs at a zoo in Stockholm, Sweden. Unlike a few decades ago, Swedes fear coming across a bear the most in the wild, over any other animal. (Henrik Montgomery/AFP/Getty Images)
GOTHENBURG, Sweden—Swedish researchers have delved into the Swedes’ attitudes toward wild animals they might encounter in the forest, especially the larger predators such as bears and wolves. Nearly half the population is afraid of bears, and the fear factor carries potential risk for the animals.

By the 20th century bears were nearly extinct in Sweden. Their numbers have grown in recent years, however, and have become a sensitive topic among the Swedes. The bear is the animal Swedes are most afraid of encountering in the wild, followed by the wild boar and the wolf.

Fear of the animals in Sweden has been linked to violence against the animals. The first licensed wolf hunt in modern Sweden—as opposed to hunting for wildlife conservation purposes—took place recently and stirred up a very heated debate.

This year’s survey also looked at the Swedes’ attitudes toward hunting predators, and most people feel that large predators can be hunted if they wander into densely populated areas or attack domestic animals. Some also feel that people’s fear of predators is reason enough to hunt them.

Similar to the bear, the wild boar has slowly risen on the fear chart since the 1980s when a mere 1 percent of Swedes were afraid of running into one.

In northern Sweden, where most predators live, there are areas where as much as 65 percent of the population says that they are afraid of predators. There is a clear correlation between the actual number of predators in an area and people’s attitudes toward them.

Elsewhere, the picture is different, and overall a strong correlation is lacking. Around the urban capital of Stockholm, for instance, there is no established population of bears, but about half of the residents there say they are afraid of bears.

A similar survey was taken in 1980 which found that less than one in ten Swedes were afraid of encountering a moose, yet no predators were on the list. The fear of the large and potentially dangerous moose is about the same as it was in 1980, but the fear is mainly of moose-related car accidents, which can be fatal. Only one Swede in ten are afraid of the moose.

Something not addressed in the survey is the fact that in recent years there have been a couple of incidents, one fatal, where wild bears have attacked humans. The increased fear of wild boars is most likely also related to car accidents, which have become more common as the boar population has spread throughout Sweden. Another fear factor may be that few Swedes know how to act in an encounter with a big, potentially dangerous wild animal.