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Wolf killer wants pardon

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Wolf killer wants pardon

A Swedish farmer sentenced to six months in prison for shooting a wolf on his farm in Dalsland, central Sweden, is appealing to the government for a pardon.

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"The government will receive the application for a pardon today," the man's wife said on Thursday.

The farmer claimed that he shot the wolf in line with guidelines allowing protected animals to be killed to defend property.

The incident occurred in May 2003, a couple of days after the wolf had killed ten of the farmer's sheep. When the man noticed the wolf was 130 metres from the sheep pen he shot it, then called the police and the county administrative board to report what he had done.

The man was found not by the district court not to have broken the law, but he was convicted in the court of appeal. It was decided that although the man had reason to believe that the wolf would attack, as the wolf had attacked his neighbour's sheep an hour earlier, too much time has passed between the attack on the sheep and the farmer shooting the wolf.

The farmer was denied leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. He was also refused a retrial. The farmer continues to argue that he did the right thing, and writing in Dagens Nyheter on Wednesday he says he is applying for a pardon so that the government is made aware of the problem.

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TT/The Local

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