According to Metsähallitus, the regional economic effects of bear hunting in Kainuu last year were almost 500,000 euros. According to the tourism entrepreneur, hunting tourism has international potential.
At the same time, tens of thousands lost income from Heikkinen, and staff had been booked for the upcoming weekend in vain.
\”It’s a difficult situation, and now it’s a bear hunt in this respect,\” says Heikkinen.
Heikkinento, who runs a holiday village in Lentiira, Kuhmo, near the Russian border, hopes to change the permit practice to a more long-term one. It would make life easier for tourism entrepreneurs.
The Finnish Hunters’ Association has also expressed a similar wish. It suggests that the granting of exemption permits would be brought forward by half a year and that a reasonable processing time would be required from the administrative authorities in the processing of permit appeals.
Now, exception permits for bear hunting outside the reindeer herding area are issued in mid-July.
Mätsätäjäliitto: The grounds for the right of appeal should be reconsidered
– Local operators have the right to appeal, which cannot mean that complaints are filed in the name of the local table drawer association from the other side of Finland, criticized Silpola in the Metsätäjäliito press release.
Kuhmo’s bear permits have been complained about by the Nature Conservation Association Tapiola, which has also complained about the permits granted in North Karelia.
On Wednesday, August 17, the Administrative Court of Northern Finland suspended Kuhmo’s bear hunting permits.
Most of the exemption permits for bear hunting are now on hold, as the Administrative Court of Eastern Finland previously made a similar interim decision on bear permits in North Karelia.
The Finnish Game Agency had given Kuhmo a permit to kill 18 bears for this hunting season. A total of 25 permits have been granted in Kainuu.
Bear hunting starts in Kainuu on Saturday in Sotkamo and in the permit area formed by Ristijärvi, Paltamo and Puolanga, because no appeal was made for these permits by the deadline.
In addition, bear hunting will start in part of Kainuu, North Ostrobothnia and Lapland’s reindeer management area, based on hunting quotas granted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Hunting tourism is a significant income supplement in Kainuu
All in all, hunting tourism is a significant income supplement in Kainuu. Metsähallitus estimates that in 2021 bear hunting brought almost half a million euros of regional economic benefit to Kainuuse outside the reindeer herding area last year.
The previous year, the amount was 350,000 euros.
The sum consists of the money hunters spend on food, accommodation and other goods, among other things. Chicken betting, on the other hand, brought almost 1.5 million euros to Kainuus last year.
According to Petri Heikkinen from Kuhmo, hunting tourism has potential among international customers as well.
– If the hunting times had been set for us even a year in advance, then we would be able to do business sensibly. Now the situation is impossible, for example, in terms of bird hunting, reservations have to be made at the last minute.
Currently, hen bird hunters have a statement at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The hunt is scheduled to begin on September 10.
_What thoughts did the story evoke? You can discuss bear hunting at Yle Tunnus until Saturday, August 20. until 11 p.m._