Felt Responsibility – NRK Nordland | News & Updates

Six men, five from Norway and one from Sweden, are charged with serious hunting offenses after shooting a bear cub and one of her cubs in Strömsund municipality in autumn 2023.

It is strictly forbidden to shoot bins with children in Sweden, regardless of whether you have a license or not.

According to the indictment, the hunting team must have chased the bears with a car and dogs for several hours before the mother bear and one of the cubs were shot.

How her other two children fared is unknown, but according to prosecutor Åse Schoultz, they must have suffered a slow death, alone without their mother.

Whether the hunting team has a collective responsibility for what has happened is a central issue in the case.

The prosecutor rejects the defense’s claim that each hunter only has an isolated, individual responsibility for his own actions.

– The entire hunting team has a collective responsibility. When you go out as a group with specialized bear dogs, you hunt with a common plan and understanding, she tells NRK.

Met Isak Dreyer at a shop

TV celebrity Isak Dreyer explained himself on Thursday. Today, the leader of the hunting team and two men from Helgeland took their turn in the witness box.

One of the defendants explained that he had met Isak Dreyer by chance in a shop in Eastern Norway.

He eventually got acceptance from the hunt leader to invite Dreyer to the bear hunt that took place in October 2023.

The person corroborated Dreyer’s own explanation from yesterday that he had no knowledge and experience of bear hunting.

– I acted in good faith. I was looking forward to my first bear hunt. I had a lot to learn and had full confidence in the hunting team.

This was explained by TV celebrity Isak Dreyer when he appeared in Östersund district court in Sweden on Thursday, accused of gross, illegal bear hunting.

Dreyer has always denied guilt and claimed he did not shoot any bears. Swedish police believe that Dreyer was not present when the binna and the child were shot, but came to the scene later.

– Felt responsible

The man explained that he felt a responsibility to give Dreyer a basic knowledge of the form of hunting, and the two hunted together throughout the first day.

He himself was invited along as a guest hunter and dog handler by the team’s hunting manager.

In a message, he is said to have congratulated his hunting companion on having shot the bear bear.

When he later became aware that the binna had three cubs with her, he described the experience as an “emotional roller coaster”.

A dangerous situation

The man who explained himself, who is an experienced hunter, gave the court a description of how dangerous it is to let a dog loose on a mother bear with cubs.

He explained that he himself has seen how badly a dog can be injured in such a situation.

This was brought forward to support the explanation that they were not aware that they were hunting a bear family.

According to the explanation, he released one of his own dogs together with another dog to find out what the latter was hunting after the mother bear was shot.

Eventually he heard a shot and sent a message to one of the others to ask if it was the person who had shot.

When he didn’t get an answer, he became worried. Later he learned that a bear cub had been shot.

According to Swedish prosecutors, he is also guilty of tampering with evidence and also attempted to hide the fact that one of the bear cubs was shot.

The hunt leader’s explanation

The person who was listed as hunting leader at the time was among the defendants who appeared in court today.

He began his explanation by saying that he had hunted several types of game since 1980, and several times participated in bear hunting in Sweden.

The person must have had four game cameras of the “Spypoint” type in the area. These were active from the start of the hunt in August.

Several had the opportunity to log in through the app to the system to see images from the feeding ground where the hunting cameras were located.

In addition, he had the Messenger group “Bjørnejakt 2023” with 17 members, where all the hunters had access.

The tracking system they used during the hunt was also possible for several people to follow, including those at home. He himself believes that the number of potential followers substantiates that this was not an organized illegal hunt.

Reacted with frustration

The hunt leader further explained that beyond the hunting day on 3 October, he received a message that a doe had been shot, but that it was never a doe with cubs.

When the person who shot the binna had to register it with the Länsstyrelsen in Jämtland, the person concerned gave his consent to be listed as a formal hunt leader.

After seeing the bear that was shot, both he and one of the others in the hunting team must have collected their things and driven home to Norway.

He claimed that it was only during police interrogation long after he heard that the binna that was shot had three children with her, and that one of the children was also shot.

According to the explanation, he reacted with exasperation, frustration and eventually anger at what had happened.

Although he was the hunt leader, he denies that he has any formal responsibility for what happened.

– He was appointed as hunt leader only because the bear had been shot. There is no collective responsibility. Legally, he has no responsibility as a hunt leader, but has his individual criminal responsibility, says his defender Jan Åke Nystrøm.

Was shocked and upset

Towards the end of the day, one of the two hunters from Helgeland explained himself.

The first man says that he was on the post when it became clear that the dogs had chased a bear.

Eventually he received a message from the Swedish hunt leader that a bear had been shot. He went over to look at the bear and talk to the shooter.

– He never mentions that he has shot a doe that had three cubs after her, claims the man.

He also claims that he only learned that binna had three bear cubs with him when the police confronted him about it.

– I was shocked and upset when I understood what had happened.

The trial continues next Tuesday. Then the expert must give his explanation.

On March 25, it is ready for procedures from the prosecution and defense.