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[matsoberg]

Just in case you´re wondering about my howling avatar...

The grey wolf is having a hard time in Sweden these days. The goverment has decided to listen to the samis and others to keep the number down so they won´t suffer from wolf attacs on their rain deers and on the hunters game. The samis are keeping rain deer as cattle without a fence, so they are spread over almost all the high country which is wolf habitat. Rain deer are also one of the primary pray for wolves here. Do some googling on samis and you´ll probably get the picture.

27 wolves are to be taken out from the meager number of about 210 in total in the country, but I suspect the number to be a bit more depending on how trigger happy some people are. 7 amimals went down in the (motorized) hunt in just one county. The snow makes them easy to track down also.

Just so you know.

[fleaflicker]

This is actually something I did not think the Sami people would be game to do, let alone lead the decision. though I will plead ignorant as I do not know enough about the Samis situation, Im surprised they had not figured a better way to controll their situation, but with free roaming deer what else..... What were they doing about this situation before? Really Sad to hear this...

I believe the last wolf to be recoreded in britain was the Grey wolf. It was killed in scotland during the 17th century... There are on going debates to reintroduce several species into the Uk, including Beaver , though this I believe is already taking place in devon & Scotland..

Matt

[SnooKen]

Without big predators wilderness is no longer truly wild. The apex predators are the most sensitive indicator of the health of an ecosystem as well as being vital to keeping things in balance. The same economic drive and pressures that have and are altering the face of the planet everywhere are well documented and understood. What has not happened is the development of an approach that effectively protects natural reserves anywhere. As human populations expand aboriginal people are displaced into areas that were formerly uninhabited and relatively pristine, undamaged by direct human impacts.

As Art Kelly's Pogo the 'possum used to say "We have met the enemy and he is us."

[matsoberg]

Matt.

The grey wolf was almost extinguished here in the -70´s but action was taken to protect it as it belongs to our fauna. I belive it was a number of less than 10 animals back then. It has come to be an infected debate between the rain deer owners/samis (and also moose/deer hunters) and the inviromentalists.

Problem is that the big predators (brown bear, lynx, wolf and wolverine) are not at all popular among these groups. There is a silent (and nowadays illegal) hunt going on and has been for as long as man can remember. There is an expression well known; "Shoot, dig and shut up" that might give a hint of what´s about.

It´s really sad and what pisses me off is that 210 animals should be a problem in our country, with the space we got, when it´s not in countries with much less space, more poulation and ten times more wolves. Like in the Baltic states and even Romania or Poland.

[matsoberg]

As Art Kelly's Pogo the 'possum used to say "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Amen to that.

[adam]

I'm reading, listening...