A large portion of Sweden is covered in forest. While native trees are grown, these vast plantations are actually cut down regularly. Given it may take a few decades for trees to grow to maturity, much of the country is left pretty wild.
While the Swedish people are quite keen hunters, there are significant numbers of bears, and even a small but growing population of wolves.
This is why it is so worrying to find that some of the wood in their products actually came from protected forests in Russia.
It was as much a surprise to Ikea as to us, and they have cut off deals with the company at fault.
This just highlights the incredible difficulty in making sure your products are completely clean. Never-the-less a similar mistake in the near future might have a bigger impact on their reputation, they must increase the level of their due diligence.