NORWAY is planning to kill a quarter of all the grey wolves living in
Southern Scandinavia in a bid to appease farmers who claim the animals are
killing their sheep. But the move has angered Sweden, which says the cull will
spell the end for the region鈥檚 wolves.
Around 80 wolves roam freely in an area which straddles the border between
the two countries. The Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management wants to cull
around 20 of them because of pressure from farmers, who claim they are losing
increasing numbers of livestock. 鈥淭he number of wolves is not large enough to
cause great damage at the moment, but we don鈥檛 know how serious the damage will
be [in the future],鈥� says Bjornulf Kristiansen of the Norwegian Farmers鈥�
Association.
But Sweden fiercely opposes the cull. 鈥淲e are very much in disagreement,鈥�
says Anders Bjaervall of the government鈥檚 Environmental Protection Agency. 鈥淚t
is a number that is very difficult for us to accept.鈥�
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Rasmus Hansson of the conservation group WWF Norway is also against the
plans. 鈥淭hey would be down to an extremely low level, way below any minimum
population needed for a long-term sustainable population.鈥� But Svein Nic.
Norberg of the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management disagrees.
鈥溈烀ǘ淌悠祍 say it is a sustainable population,鈥� he says.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian government insists that two families of wolves will
be shot if a census later this month confirms that there are more than eight
packs. The cull will involve helicopters, snow scooters and trained marksmen,
and will cost $240,000. It must be carried out before the snow melts,
because the hunters will track the wolves by their footprints.
Protesters will be allowed to appeal, but time is running out. Kristiansen
says he is confident the cull will take place. If the cull does not go ahead,
鈥淚鈥檓 afraid the situation will be very difficult. I鈥檓 afraid people will start
doing things they shouldn鈥檛 do.鈥�
Norwegian farmers claim compensation for 33,000 sheep lost to carnivores each
year, but only 700 to 800 are taken by wolves, Hansson says. The rest fall prey
to wolverines, lynx and brown bears. 鈥淲iping out wolves will not solve any
problems for Norwegian agriculture,鈥� he says.
At the heart of the argument is a contrast between the farming methods of the
two countries. In Sweden, sheep are kept fenced in, while Norwegians let their
animals run free. 鈥淭hey are let out into the forests in the spring, and the
farmers try to find them again in the fall,鈥� says Bjaervall.
While Norway hopes to pacify its farmers, the Swedes are committed to
conservation. 鈥淥ur official idea is to try to increase the number of wolves and
to try to increase the area that they inhabit,鈥� says Bjaervall.