Wolves endangered in Europe

European ecologists and animal rights activists are raising the alarm: the population of grey wolves turned out to be on the verge of destruction. And people are to blame once again.

In the fall of 2016 Norwegian authorities had taken the outrageous decision that shocked and angered the public: they decided to execute a legitimate shooting of about 70% of national population of wolves. In case that there are only from 65 to 68 beings, the murder of 47 animals is licensed. And that`s all because of the fact that the wolves were said to have eaten 600 sheep. But, according to the biggest Norwegian ecological organization Naturvernforbundet data, from the winter of 2011/2012 wolves haven`t attacked any agricultural animals at all. The official statistics says the same.

Animal rights activists and simply caring citizens have condemned the decision of Norwegian government and named it the call for the massacre. The Secretary General of WWF Norway Nina Jensen stated «That`s a real slaughter that we haven`t seen for more that hundred years. The murder of animals that need to be protected is unworthy the nation that portrays itself as conservationists.»

There`s an information that the situation in the country is continuing to heat up and threatening to end up with mass protests. And what should one expect in the place where citizenship can turn out to be more powerful than the government and the level of legal conscience and ecological self-consciousness is one of the highest in Europe? In addition, the Norwegian conservationists were actively supported by their Swedish colleagues. The government faltered but still didn`t cancel the decision. At first they reduced the quantity of the sentenced wolves to 20 beings, then to 9. But it would be enough for the extinction of the whole type. The most strange is the fact that the Norwegian government still hasn`t clearly explained the reasons of their decision. From the moment of its signing the authorities haven`t found a single argument in favor of murdering the wolves.

And at the same time this winter they began to shoot 3 wolf packs including cubs. It is known that wolves don`t represent any danger for humans and don`t cause any problems neither for them nor for their habitat. And even without any anthropogenic intervention their population is extremely small and can disappear on its own. That`s why the Norwegian wolves need to be protected but not shot! It`s a pity that there are no laws protecting wolves in Norway.

This shameful story about hatred wolves didn`t start on one day.

The last mass shooting of wolves in the country of fjords happened about 170 years ago. Then one wanted to restore their population during 150 years and another led them to be under extinction to the last third of XX century. In the southern part of Scandinavia the wolves had nearly disappeared when in 1970s the unlicensed shooting of them was banned. But according to WWF data the population of wolves in this area is from 50 to 80 heads, and for the normal reproduction there are needed at least 500 ones.

In 2005 the Norwegian authorities took a decision to shoot 25% of grey wolves living in the country, reducing their population to 15 beings. They explained that it was necessary to protect the horned cattle of Norwegian cattlemen. But WWF-Norway representatives advocated the forest purgers. They expressed outrage about the government intention and reminded that grey wolves in Norway are endangered and protected by authorities. According to WWF representatives the wolves can`t survive if there are only two packs in Norway. Besides, in case of interbreeding the wolves of one pack there`s a serious risk of mutations.

In 2005 the WWF activists explained that in case of elk population of 300 thousand and reindeer population of 30 thousand at least 800 wolves can live in Norway. It is exactly the quantity needed for maintaining a healthy gene pool of these animals.

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By the materials of WWF, Naturvernforbundet, Lenta.ru