Newsademic British English edition 260

oose
 
h u n t
 
b e g in s
 
i n
 
S
w e d e n
In Sweden there is an annual moose 
hunt. This year, in southern Sweden, 
it began on 12th October. Hunting 
animals is very popular in Sweden. 
However, famers and hunters often 
argue about how many moose should 
be killed. The farmers want hunters 
to shoot a greater number. This is 
because moose cause a lot o f dam­
age on their farms. Hunters want to 
make sure that plenty o f moose are 
left for the following year’s hunt.
Moose are members o f the deer 
family. O f all the animals in this 
group, moose are the largest. Moose 
are found in Canada, Alaska, which 
is a part o f the USA, Eastern Eu­
rope, Russia, and Scandinavia. 
Scandinavia is made up o f D en­
mark, Norway and Sweden. In Eu­
rope, including Scandinavia, moose 
are often called elk. This is confus­
ing because in North America the 
elk is a different animal.
There are eight subspecies of 
moose. The correct name for the 
one that lives in Sweden is moose 
or the Eurasian elk. This animal’s 
scientific name is 
Alces Alces.
Male 
moose, or bulls have large antlers. 
At the shoulder, bulls can be over 
two metres (6.5 feet) tall. Females 
are smaller and lighter. The largest 
subspecies is the Alaskan Moose. 
M ost moose are solitary animals. 
So they live on their own and not as 
part o f a herd.
Eurasian elk o r m oose
Sweden is a large country but its 
population is less than ten million. 
Northern Sweden is mostly forest, 
whilst the south is mostly agricul­
tural, or farmland. In many parts of 
the world, moose numbers dropped 
during the last hundred years. They 
were hunted to near extinction. 
There are no moose left in Western 
Europe. Sweden introduced new 
laws to manage its moose numbers. 
These have been very successful. 
Nowadays, in Sweden, the moose 
population is around 400,000. B e­
tween 90,000 and 100,000 are killed 
each year during the hunting season. 
The density o f moose per square 
kilometre in Sweden is much higher 
than in Canada or Russia.

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