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by Alexander Heyd
"When it comes to the management of whales and predators, we do what we consider necessary" stated
Norways Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg - and gave the signal to load weapons. Just as a more or less stable wolf population
has established itself in Northern Europe - and wolf hunting has been banned in Sweden for the first time (winter 2000/2001)
- the land of fjords, whalers and seal-slaughterers is on the trail of the Big Bad Wolf.
The wolf population in central Scandinavia, which had become almost extinct in the 1950s, is estimated today to be between
70 and 80 individuals. They live in 10 packs, 3 in Norway, 3 in Sweden and 4 in the mountainous border area between the two
countries. The contact to their relatives in Finland and Russia has been lost for some considerable time. The reindeer breeders
in Lapland, in northernmost Scandinavia, make sure that no potential predator threat to their domestic herds is permitted
to pass through. But now even those wolves based further south are facing hard times. On the Swedish side of the border it
is from the hunters, who regularly lose one of their half a million hunting dogs to a wolf. In Norway it is the farmers, who
are organising opposition to their survival because of the loss of sheep (several hundred annually out of a total of 2.4 million)
to wolves. For each wolf casualty the farmers get some 200 Euro compensation from the state; considerably more than the market
value. Money is irrelevant however; a deeply rooted hate of the wolf is the real reason.
Sweden and Norway seemed
to have reached agreement that the combined wolf population in their countries would be permitted to reach a total of 200
in order to give the animals a real chance of survival. This was reneged on in the Norwegian election campaign when the governing
Workers' Party promised their voters a wolf-free country. True to their promise the government in Oslo gave permission in
January 2001 for 9 of the scarce 25 Norwegian wolves to be hunted down.
They couldn't have suspected that the normally
steely individual obstinacy of the Norwegian in environmental matters would reach breaking-point over this question. Led by
the 'Foreningen Vare Rovdyr' (Predator Protection Association) and the Norwegian WWF, a European-wide wave of outrage rolled
in the direction of those responsible. Within a few days the government received thousands of protest letters and mails. The
Diplomatic Service swung into action; and after Sweden's environmental minister Kjell Larsson called the Norwegian plan a
"slaughter", the Prime Ministers of the fraternal states met in Oslo. Norway remained stubborn however and stuck
to its plan to kill the wolves. Even a negative international press the London Daily Mirror called Norway "those crazy
Vikings" and "an eccentric fringe nation" had no effect.
Following the failure of the predator conservationists
to get a court order, on the basis of offences against the Bern Convention, the hunt began. The first phase was called off
due to the presence of representatives of the world media. The wolves appeared to have taken the opportunity to take to the
hills. But it wasn't to be for long. The first wolf was shot on 19th February. The forests of central Norway seemed all of
a sudden to be full of hunters in helicopters, on snow bikes and armed with large-grain shot. Within a short period of time
the other 8 members of the wolf pack had been killed.
The wolves represent only a small part of the predator tragedy.
In the winter of 2000/2001 the Norwegian government once again lifted hunting restrictions on all other predators seals,
lynx, bear and even the wolverine. And as if that wasn't enough, the reindeer breeders in the most northerly province of Finnmark
were even permitted to hunt the golden eagle.
In the shadow of the 'Norwegian Wolf Hunt', their neighbour Sweden
has more or less escaped international criticism unfairly! Although the ban on wolf hunting, not least due to the protests
of the Komitee gegen den Vogelmord (KgV - Committee against Bird Slaughter), has not been lifted for the first time in years,
the other predators have nothing to laugh about. Hunting permits for a total of 70 brown bears (total population approx. 600
individuals) and 127 lynx (tot. pop. approx. 500) were once again issued. Only the wolverine, on the verge of extinction,
was spared for the time being.
Information on the widespread poaching in Norway as in the EU state of Sweden is
swept under the carpet. In the reindeer regions hunting of predators is a daily sport for the local Sami (the Lapp ethnic
minority). No one takes any notice of the hunting laws, seasons or protected areas here. Even today it is possible to buy
illegally killed and stuffed wolverine, lynx, bear, wolf, golden eagle and other birds of prey. In south and central Sweden
the forests are full of illegal deadfall-traps set out in particular for the lynx. The motto here is "The only good
predator is a dead predator."
Whether wolf, eagle, seal or whale; conservation or species protection in the
whole of Scandinavia is, contrary to what we all think, of minor importance. The blind hate of wild animals, and the belief
of the majority of the population that wildlife is there to be brutally exploited, leads us to the sad conclusion that the
predators in Northern Europe will not be with us for much longer.
© Komitee gegen den Vogelmord e.V. 2001
© translation David Conlin 2001
Norwegian Carnivore and Raptor Society
[with the WOLF HUNT STORY to date and Wolf COUNTDOWN - 16 left!]
WWF - Norway Wolf Diary and Fact Sheet
[p a i n f u l l y S L O W page buildup!]
Sweden - Environment Protection Agency
[type 'WOLF' in 'search' box top right - 9 results!]
Homepage - Komitee gegen den Vogelmord
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