ABSTRACT
During the 1960s the population tripled and increased to 40,000 animals by 1980. Given such a large increase, some hunting was permitted from 1973. The hunting appears to have been justified. The reintroduced beaver population in Sweden has behaved as introduced ungulate populations-it ‘exploded’ and then started to decline (Hartman 1994). In two study areas, the population growth-rate turned negative after 34 and 25 years and at densities of 0.25 and 0.20 colonies per km2, respectively. Management policy for an irruptive species should probably allow hunting during the irruptive phase. Hunting keeps the irruptive population in check and so maintains food resources and avoids uncontrolled population decline.
