The wolf in Norway
- An enrichment or a plague?
On christmas eve in Leksvik, 1612, a young soldier walks across a marsh after visiting his gilfriend. After some time a pack of wolves charges him. Luckily he is carrying a sword which he uses to kill one of the wolves, causing the remainder to throw themselves over this wolf. The soldier does one mistake though, he does not wipe the blood off the sword. This leads the wolves to him once again, but this time the sword is frozen and is stuck to the sheath. He then becomes a meal for the pack. (Erik Eriksen) Most likely this story is nothing more than a legend, but the story that is kept alive, shows that wolves are both feared and looked upon as a plague by some in Norway. Others, on the other hand, believe that wolves are beautiful animals, that have the right to maintain their natural place in the Norwegian landscape. In this essay we will look at some of the arguments supporting and opposing wolves in Norway.
First of all, it is important to point out that when we speak of wolves in Norway, we refer to the scandinavian wolf stock living in both Norway and Sweden. This stock measures about 125 individuals of whom only around 20 reside in Norway. Another 20-30 individuals dwell on the boarder between Norway and Sweden. The rest resides in Sweden. (Petter Wabakken and Thomas H. Strømseth, ”Status for skandinavisk ulv 2004-2005” ) With as few individuals as this, the wolf is reckoned a national endangered species. Still, the Norwegian government at times permits shooting of individual wolves, or even stocks, to control where it lives. This is threatening the wolf’s existence in Norway.
The number of wolves nowadays is low, but it has not always been that way. In the early 1800s there were a whole lot more than today, but between 1846 and 2002 over 6400 wolves were killed in Norway, almost resulting in eradiction. Around 1960 there were practically no wolves left, which led to the preserving of wolves in 1973. It was not before 1997 that wolves again began breeding in Norway. Since then, the stock has slowly increased in number and we have reached the number of wolves that we experience today. (Scott M. Brainerd and Hans Chr. Pedersen) Yet, this number is very low.
The wolf is a very widespread animal. Together with the fox it is actually the most geographically spread animal on the planet. We can find the wolf in many different landscapes. All from arctic tundra to woods and desert. As a matter of fact, the wolf was earlier considered a mountainspecies in Norway, since it mostly lived in the mountains. Today, however, wolves mainly live in the woods in the eastern part of Norway.
LES OGSÅ: Slagord på russekortet
This figure shows the spreading of wolves in Norway and Sweden.
Where the wolf lives in Norway, is also an argument used by wolf-opponents. Some claim that the wolf lives too close to humans and that its close vicinity is a danger to people in the area. But, if we are to believe the experts, wolves oppose no real danger to human beings. Actually, the last verified incident of a wolf attacking a human being in Norway was in 1800. And not even on an international basis have there been many episodes where wolves have attacked humans. In fact, wolves normally do not attack people. The cherokee-indians or the lapps that live, or have lived, side by side with the wolf without it being a problem is a testimony to this. It is more likely a matter of fear. Humans encounter wolves every day. Still, it is a rarity that humans are attacked by wolves.
LES OGSÅ: Kristin Lavransdatter - Kransen
The Wolf is the ancestor of all dogs, so, naturally, you can see the resemblence between the two species. The only main difference is that wolves are a bit larger and has more fur than an avarage dog. However, they differ in the way that the wolf is a predator. Therefore, a wolf has a body, especially teeth and jaws, adjusted for the life of a beast of prey. There is a lot of power in a wolf, and it can even hunt and kill an elk or a deer. This is fairly impressive by an animal only weighs between 30 and 50 kilos on avarage. Sizewise, a wolf can become uptill 90 cm. tall and 150 cm. long. (Arnodd Håpnes, Wikipedia)
As all predators the wolf prefers meat when it comes to nourishment. It prays on other animals such as elks, deers and other large animals. Wolves usually hunt in packs, which has two major advantages. Firstly, it increases the chance of a prey, and secondly it decreases the risk of a wolf being killed. Which, is always a risk when attempting to hunt down big prey. A wolf is able to consume up to six kilos of meat every day, but can also go without food for weeks in case of limited food resources. (Scott M. Brainerd and Hans Chr. Pedersen)
Wolves also eat sheep, which is one of the reasons the wolf has become a reoccuring issue in Norway. Every once in a while wolves kill tame sheep and this has triggered Norwegian sheepfarmers. Every year wolves kill around 800 sheep, meaning that the wolf is the predator in Norway that kills the fewest. Even eagles have to take the blaim for more sheep being killed than wolves (1200 sheep). Every year over 100 000 sheep die of other causes than predators, like getting caught in barbed wire fences, breaking a leg, get run over or they die from diseases. Farmers who have livestock also recieve compensation for sheep that are killed by predators. This is an arrangement made by the Norwegian government to try and preserve the wolf and other predators, while at the same time not letting their loss of sheep have an impavt on farmers’ income. Still, sheepfarmers mean that wolves should be eradicted.
There is one other problem related to the low number of wolves in the Scandinavian stock. With fewer animals there will be more and more inbreeding in the stock. This is a great risk since inbreeding generates the chance of generetic degradation which by time can do harm to the stock. A genetically healthy wolf population should contain at least 800 individuals. (Scott M. Brainerd and Hans Chr. Pedersen) The scandinavian populations contain approximately 120 individuals. In other words, our stock of wolves is way to low. Studies have shown that the rate of inbreeding is very high amongst the Scandinavian stock. Without the addition of new genes, the number of wolves have to be relatively high to prevent it from extinction. Even though the poulation increases in a short term period, this could in a longer perspective cause the eradiction of wolves in Norway.
It is a paradox that in the country in Europe with the fewest predators per acreage, this should be the country with the largest problems related to predators killing livestock. But this has an obvious explanation. Norway is the only country where pasture-animals go free without herding of some sort. Naturally, this worked perfectly fine until the stock of predators increased again in the 1980s’. But to combat this threat, few farmers have tried preventing predators from having access to their animals by setting up electrical fences or herding, devices that are used in the rest of Europe, and with positive results. (Rasmus Hansson, “Licenced to Kill”) But in Norway most farmers believe in the traditional way of farming, with the result that wolves and other predators can easily kill their sheep.
The Norwegian government and the Swedish government are cooparating on saving the stock of wolves that the countries have in common. In 1998 Norway and Sweden signed a principal document saying that the countries were going to save the stock. (Rasmus Hansson, “Ser de ikke skogen for bare ulv”) This has not been entirely followed up by the Norwegian state. In fact, even if the government gives the expression of working to retain the wolf, they have done many things that has upset countries and wolf-supporters around the world. Norway has given permission to shoot individual wolves and even whole packs, causing a great threat to the scandinavian stock. This is irresponsable opposed to both Sweden and to nature.
With the Norwegian government handling the wolf issue like it does, it creates a negative image of Norway internationally. We all know how important the pristine “Fjords, mountains, woods and animals” image that Norway has in the world is for industry and tourism. With the reactions Norway are recieving from countries all over the world and from major organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, it also damages the picture people have of Norway. If we do not make a real effort to save the wolf soon, countries may stop importing some products and working together with Norwegian companies. To take an example, the Finnish and Swedish wood company Stora Enso has already questioned Norske Skog who are working hard to get rid of the wolf in Norway. (Rasmus Hansson, “Ser de ikke skogen for bare ulv”) Cases like this could as a concequence have a negative effect on Norwegian companies and their collaborations with other foreign companies.
Even when all the arguments are laid on the table, the fact remains that the wolf is a natural part of our fauna and has the right to live there. It is our duty to maintain the biological multiplicity that we have today and pass it on to the next generation. Every day, people encounter wolves somewhere in the world, but you hardly ever hear of wolves attacking humans. The wolf is normally not a threat to people. Also, we can understand why farmers become upset over the loss of sheep or reindeer due to wolves, but by taking preventative steps a great part of this could be prevented. And even if the wolf kills some of the animals, the Norwegian government does compensate for the loss. Norway is the only country that has this problem, all other countries cope with wolves. It should not be so hard to do this in Norway as well. Wolves were not created to be eradicted, and should therefore hold its place in the Scandinavian landscape. The Norwegian government claims that it is trying to save the wolf, but how does it achieve this by shooting large parts of the entire stock? If the problem is not properly taken care of soon, there is a great risk of never seeing these beautiful animals in Norway or Scandinavia again. Is that what we want?
