📋 Tender Overview
President of the Republic confirmed the Act amending section 33 of the Hunting Act. The Act will enter into force on 10.5.2024.
The Hunting Act will be amended so that electronic aiming devices intended for night shooting and artificial light sources may be used in wild boar hunting without special permission. The aim of the legislative amendment is to intensify wild boar hunting in order to prevent the spread of African swine fever (ASF).
The introduction of the disease into the country would have significant economic consequences for pig farming. The disease would also restrict or prevent hunting and hunting tourism regionally. The Act will enter into force on 10.5.2024.
The legislative amendment is based on the the guidelines previously drawn up by the Wild Boar Working GroupLink to another site reducing the wild boar population and intensifying hunting. In the medium term, the aim is to halve the current stock. Outside the concentrations in Eastern Uusimaa and Southeast Finland, the goal is that wild boar are mainly found sporadically, and densities or permanent populations are not allowed to form.
According to a population estimate produced and published by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), the wild boar population has continued to decline in FinlandLink to another site. In January 2024, the average population size was just over 2,000 wild boars, which is about 1,000 individuals smaller than in 2020, the peak year of population growth. In addition to hunting, the cold winters of recent years have contributed to the decrease in the number of wild boars.
"Hunters are doing important work in reducing the wild boar population. In this way, they reduce the risk of African swine fever spreading to Finland. With this legislative amendment, we want to make hunters' work easier and encourage wild boar hunting," says Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah.
