It is about an area of ​​about 130 hectares in Hanebolsskogen, northwest of Åmål, which is owned by the municipality. There, a hunting team has hunted without having to pay, at least since the 1980s. In the area there are running tracks as well as football pitches and the hunting team has therefore driven animals on private land further afield, and sometimes shot them there.

Other teams are allowed to pay

SVT News West has requested all hunting rights agreements that the municipality has. It turns out that other hunting teams pay between 2000 - 4000 SEK per year for the corresponding area.

But the municipality does not see this as something unfair.

Björn Wennerström is acting head of unit for planning and the property unit at Åmål Municipality.

- Yes, if it was hunting we rent out the area to. But we don't see it as hunting. We have seen it as if they simply performed a service for us. They have kept the exercise tracks free of moose that can threaten the exercise. We have not thought in these terms that they have hunted, says Björn Wennerström, acting unit manager for planning and real estate at Åmål municipality.

The municipality itself has warned of moose hunting

The municipality warns itself about the hunt, even though in the interview they do not want to call it hunting.

At the same time, the municipality has itself warned of moose hunting in Hanebolsskogen on its own Facebook page, in a post from 2018.

And Thomas Lindström does not buy the municipality's statement that this would be a service for the municipality, to keep moose away from exercisers.

Thomas Lindström (TL) is an opposition politician in the Municipality of Åmål and thinks it is very strange that the municipality has not asked for a hunting lease for the Hanebols forest.

"Then they should be here all year round and drive away moose and not just when it's hunting season," he says.

Driving animals is counted as hunting

According to the county administrative board, it is hunting when you drive away animals in this way, whether you shoot the animal or not. The Swedish Hunters' Association also agrees.

- We will continue to look at what we sign for agreements on this land. There can be some kind of agreement that the animals should be driven out, says Björn Wennerström, tf. unit manager for planning and real estate at Åmål Municipality.

But does the county administrative board mean that driving away animals is also hunting?

- We will have a discussion with the county administrative board on whether this area should be taken out of the moose hunting area. It is quite clear that we are going to create this and get equal conditions that we have elsewhere.

Take the case to the proxy

Thomas Lindström has decided to pursue the matter in the City Council. He has asked to ask questions about this at the next meeting of the council.

"We'll see if it comes up," he says.