Finland - fencing scheme aims to keep wolves & livestock apart (2002)

(By Duncan Read)

Karelia is a region that straddles the border of Southeast Finland and Northwest Russia. The Russian side of the border has only a small human population whilst the Finnish side is relatively densely populated. Historically, wolves have always been disliked and hunted hard in Finland and most of the Finnish public living in the border regions don't take kindly to seeing wolves in their front gardens.

The Finnish community of Rautjärvi lies just three kilometres from the Russian border and attitudes toward the "predators" are not very warm. Wolves have been involved in many attacks on livestock, killing both farm animals and domestic pets.

It comes as no surprise therefore, to learn that around a quarter of Finland's wolves are culled each year with most being taken by legal hunters and a few falling victim to illegal poaching. Fortunately (from the conservationist's point of view), the Finnish wolf population is replenished continually by an influx of Russian wolves from across the border.

Electrified fence keeps wolves and sheep apart

As part of a broader, longer term campaign to change attitudes and find ways of enabling the human and wolf populations to co-exist in harmony, environmental activists in Rautjärvi are helping to set up a system of electrified fences to prevent wolves from attacking flocks of sheep.

The activists are volunteer members of a wolf action group called 'Susiryhmä'. Susiryhmä is part of Luonto-Liitto (The Finnish League for Nature Conservation). Ten volunteers of the League, under the direction of project secretary Mr Ilari Uotila, have helped to set up the electrified fences in an effort to keep the predators and prey separate. They hope that by reducing the incidence of attacks upon sheep, the hostility felt toward wolves and other large predators in rural areas can be considerably reduced.

Perhaps the most unlikely proponent of the project is farmer Mr Matti Matikainen who, last year, lost an entire flock of 16 sheep to wolves.

Volunteers at work in North Karelia, Kontiolahti. Aug. 2001

The fence projects are aimed at winning the support of farmers like Mr Matikainen and in protecting both farmers and wolves they represent an ingenious win/win solution to the wolf predation problem. If successful they could neutralise one of the most powerful arguments of the anti-wolf lobby against increasing the wolf population whilst for the farmers, the system will provide a much more reliable safeguard for their stock than the haphazard shooting of wolves

Uotila says that the fences, though only little over a metre high, are high enough. The electric current running through the fence is slightly more powerful than that which is used in electric fences that keep cows in their pastures.

"A wolf can jump over an obstacle up to two metres high, but it is a cautious animal, and first investigates everything that is new and strange. Now it will get an electric shock and run away," Uotila explains.
He feels that the prevention of such incidents is the best way to secure a sustainable wolf population.
"Prevention will prove cheaper than compensating for the damage after the fact. The fence also has more long-term benefits. Besides, damage caused by predators always incites fear felt toward large predators."

The fence on the Matikainen farm is around five kilometres long and whilst the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry agreed to fund the materials for the project, installation was carried out entirely by volunteer labour organised by the League for Nature Conservation.

For a farmer who has suffered loss of his stock, Matikainen takes a surprisingly moderate view of the wolf issue and is confident that the fence will keep the predators at bay.

"It's all right to shoot a wolf if you catch it in the act, but nobody can stand guard every night. I don't even have a gun."

Ilari Uotilla (centre) overseeing fencing work in North Karelia, Kontiolahti. Aug. 2001

The Rautjärvi fence is the fifth electrified wolf fence in Finland, two of which were erected in 2001. Sami Säynevirta, a volunteer with the Nature League advises however that a sixth fence has now been erected. Though of similar construction, this one is intended to keep bears at bay.

In neighbouring Sweden there has been a much more systematic effort to erect such fences. There are now well over 100 electrified wolf fences in operation and this has contributed to a significant increase in Sweden's wolf population.

Uotila says "In Sweden the fences are built as part of employment schemes. The state should take some responsibility here in Finland as well, as we will soon come up against the limits of volunteer work".

In Finland, although its still early days, initial results are promising. One subsequent attack has however been reported on a fenced flock at a nature reserve in Parikkala (a community to the north of Rautjärvi),

Ilkka Timonen, executive director of the Parikkala Game Management Association says that the fencing scheme is a good idea as such, but he feels that it is not enough. "The wolf population is constantly growing in this area. We need more hunting permits, because the wolves have become arrogant. Fear of humans needs to be restored." This contrasts somewhat with the views of Ilpo Kojola, a researcher with the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, which is engaged in attaching radio collars in order to track the wolves. Kojola says that, far from being 'arrogant', wolves never try to fight back and that they only struggle to get away. "When humans are near they are so afraid that they would burrow into the snow if they could."

Wolf Populations

In February 2001, Helsingin Sanomat (Finland's largest circulation daily newspaper), reported that there were around 100 wolves in Finland, but in order to reach a genetically sustainable population, around 150 animals would be required.

Shot by hunters. The price wolves pay in Finland for attacking sheep.

They report that five years ago only 30 wolves inhabited Sweden's mountainous regions. Efforts to increase the population there resulted in a number of initiatives. The species was declared protected and the range of their habitat has been increased such that the population now extends as far south as Gothenburg and Stockholm. As a result the wolf population in Sweden has now recovered to some 80 animals and Sweden plans to further increase its population to some 300 animals. A fundamental ingredient to enabling such expansion of their territory was the winning over of the farming community through the success of fence projects and Uotila would like to see more such fences built in Finland, otherwise he is fearful that in protecting one farmer's animals against attack, this could leave the neighbouring farmer's cattle and sheep even more vulnerable to attack. We wait in hope and expectation that the fence projects will succeed in changing attitudes and that the Finnish Government, like its counterpart in Sweden, will feel able to take a more proactive role in implementing initiatives similar to those in Sweden.

Acknowledgements

Helsingin Sanomat newspaper:
Extracts from Helsingin Sanomat news items with kind permission of Helsingin Sanomat International. Further Finnish wolfie news stories can be found in the news archives of their website www.helsinki-hs.net
Photographs by kind permission of Sami Säynevirta

Wolf Action Group - background information

(supplied by Sami Säynevirta of Susiryhmä.)

"Wolf conservation has failed, even though the wolf is classified as a highly endangered species in Finland. Despite much-slandered conservation measures, the wolf population has not grown and poaching is unfortunately a commonplace occurrence. Is it impossible for wolves and humans to coexist peacefully?

The most important single measure in wolf conservation is keeping the existing wolf packs intact. Only in a coherent pack can wolves hunt their natural prey, such as elk and deer.

Nature League¹s wolf action group strives to spread factual information about the wolf as a social and family-oriented animal, to influence attitudes and to reduce unnecessary fear and hate of wolves. The group has participated in the building of fences to protect domestic animals from wolves and organised, among other things, trail excursions in Finland and abroad."