European Wolf. Photo by Hans Veth on Unsplash
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | JANUARY 15th 2022
A European Union conservation group is taking a stand against the culling of wolves in Sweden and Norway – a practice recently joined by Finland, as a means of controlling the wildlife population in the countries.
This is to be Finland’s first wildlife population culling in seven years, with a target of 20 wolves to kill. Sweden is already ahead, having shot and killed most of its annual target – 27 wolves. Norway is set to aim for a higher target this Winter, however, set to kill around 51 wolves, which make up about 60% of all the wolves in the country.
“Its a horrific situation,” said chief executive of animal rights group Noah, who are challenging Norway’s wolf hunts, Siri Martinsen. “Norway’s wolf management is out of control and they are just shooting wolves because some people don’t like them. It is outrageous to hold a species at a critically endangered level.”
Norway’s goal in killing off such a majority of its wolf population is to maintain no more than three breeding pairs of wolves at a time. The country has been accused of creating the most hostile environment in all of the EU for the wolves, as well as choosing to ignore conservational EU laws regarding their protection.
Norway has a protection zone sanctioned for wolves – which makes up only 5% of the country. However, regardless of this, 25 of the wolves planned for culling will be inside of the zone, which has further set conservationists against the practice. Wolves remain endangered in many countries, and in Norway, the numbers are particularly low.
It’s recently been confirmed that the wolves in Norway and Sweden are no longer native to the land – the majority of them are Finnish. The original wolf populations of Norway had been entirely hunted down into extinction in the country back in the 1970s.
