– There are quite a few lambs – motherless lambs – and screaming. We hear them roaring up the hill here. It’s just as bad every time, says Tone Våg. She and Arne Aaknes have found close to 30 carcasses so far this year. Most are documented to have been taken by bears. Difficult bear hunting – We are on the trail of bears, says Kåre Selliås. He is a hunting leader in the damage reduction team in Snåsa, and these days he spends a lot of time out and about. This summer, the State Administrator in Trøndelag has granted 13 felling permits for bears. Seven of these are extensions of felling permits already granted – including this one. But Selliås describes the hunt as very difficult. – People must not think that it is just a matter of going to the forest and catching bears. The strategy is to get him on his feet, because it is not easy, he says. The weather and the terrain have also made it difficult for the damage reduction team. – Do you believe in catching a bear? – We must have faith. Hunt leader Kåre Selliås says that it is more difficult to catch a bear than people think. Photo: Eivind Aabakken / news 82 per cent Marte Lilleeng at the State Administrator in Trøndelag says that 194 sheep have been taken by bears in Norway this year. A total of 159 of them were taken in the northern part of Trøndelag. That amounts to 82 percent. – It is not abnormal that there is such a distribution, but it is a big burden for the crews that are here, she says. – This year there has been a lot of damage in the Verdal, Snåsa and Steinkjer area, so that we have had ongoing felling permits in several places at the same time. Senior adviser at the state administrator in Trøndelag, Marte Synnøve Lilleeng. Photo: Vegard Woll / news By comparison, 91 sheep were taken by bears in Trøndelag at the same time last year. – Why is Nord-Trøndelag exposed? – It is a combination of the number of sheep on pasture and what the terrain is like. There is also proximity to a management area for bears. Although the damage is mainly outside. Sheep taken by bears The total number of sheep taken by bears in Trøndelag is 159 so far in 2022. They are distributed as follows by municipality: Grong: 12 Namsos: 2 Osen: 3 Overhalla: 2 Snåase – Snåsa: 54 Steinkjer: 26 Verdal: 60 – It is absolutely terrible. Sheep farmer Tove Våg is happy that a felling permit has been granted this year. It was not given last year. – They rescued the binna who were here last year, and who have been staying here in recent years. She attracts so many male bears that now it is full of bears here, says Våg. The sheep farmers point out that they have 30 years’ experience of having unrest in the grazing area. – But as bad as last year and this year, we have hardly experienced it. Last year we lost over 70 animals. Here the hunting team is looking for bears. Photo: Eivind Aabakken / news Våg describes that what the bear does is eat up the udder of the sheep, before he opens the chest and eats the breast fat. Then he lets the sheep lie – dead or alive. – We can find live sheep with the injuries that we have to cull. There may also be someone who goes a few days with those injuries, and who dies after a few days of suffering. It’s really terrible. – Big job Both she and her husband are critical of the administration. – This has been going on for many years, but last year in particular was a disaster for us and the entire grazing area. Now there are so many individuals in the valley floor and in the areas here, that it will be a big job to clean up, says Aaknes. This is just one of the discoveries of the sheep farmers in Snåsa. Photo: Eivind Aabakken / news Just before the weekend, he himself caught sight of one of the bears that the hunting team is now looking for. It happened shortly after he received a message from a cabin owner who had found a fresh carcass right by the road. – I went out and found that it was a bear-killed sheep. I quickly alerted the claims team. So they gathered the troops and went from normal work and straight to the mission, he says. – While I was waiting for them, I took a short walk, and just off the road the bear crossed right in front of the car. It was only a brief glimpse, but there was no doubting what it was. He describes it as that it is difficult for them as sheep farmers to have normal lives. – We walk around the clock and are worried about what happens in the mountains with our animals. It’s a very big burden.
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Sheep farmers in Trøndelag bear the brunt of the bear loss – news Trøndelag
