Iceland: every wild animal is protected unless stated otherwise
Protection is the rule; lifting it requires that the population’s recruitment offsets the losses hunting causes.
Iceland's act no. 64/1994 on the protection, close-season protection and hunting of wild birds and wild mammals opens with its terms. Vernd — conservation — means conducting hunting and other activities that may affect a species' recruitment or losses so that it is not put at risk of extinction. Friðun — close protection — is the prohibition of hunting and of other acts that may increase losses or reduce recruitment; it extends to the eggs and nests of protected birds. Wild animals are all birds and mammals other than seals, whales, pets and livestock; an animal caught and kept remains a wild animal. The substantive rule fits in one sentence: all wild animals, including those that arrive in the country regularly or might arrive, are protected unless this act provides otherwise. The act adds a general duty of conduct: the utmost care and consideration must always be shown towards wild animals and their habitats, and unnecessary disturbance avoided; spatial planning and land use must take this into account. Lifting protection is not discretionary: the decision must rest on the population's recruitment being sufficient to offset the losses hunting causes, and on hunting making use of values in meat, skins or other products.