Conservation news snapshot June 2002

At the time of writing (early June), although any pack which is going to have cubs will already have them, it is mostly too early for them to leave the dens yet and get themselves counted. Thus, it will be a while yet before we know how well the various packs have done this spring.

Norway

Perhaps, finally aware that Norway's wolf population is nearly down to single figures, officials at the Ministry of the Environment have banned a planned hunt for wolf pups in Eidsberg township in Østfold county (southeast Norway). The hunt was first proposed last September and was rejected a month later. A subsequent appeal by the hunters was dismissed by the Ministry. Officials in Østfold cited the growing wolf population as a matter of concern (it has grown from approximately 40 to approximately 13 in the last twelve months) but environmental officers contended that Eidsberg is part of a zone that has been earmarked for protecting and tracking the local wolf population.

I asked Viggo Ree of the Norwegian Raptor Society (www.fvr.no) if there was any sign of cubs in Norway and he volunteered the following information:

At present, the cubs are still in their dens (born in the first half of May), and the parents don't move them away from the den site until they are about 6-8 weeks old. By then we are into the end of June / beginning of July. From previous year' experience, the first sightings of yearlings are in July. Even in the territories where one or both aplha wolves have been radio collared (we also have two pairs with GPS - one in Sweden and one in Norway) the scientists never go into the den area as long as the pups are there. At the moment the wolf situation in Norway is rather bad, and we expect only one breeding on Norwegian soil (in addition there are 3-4 packs in the border areas). (The Anglian Wolf Society has offered to help the Norwegian Raptor Society with preparing more articles and web pages in English).

Last month (May) The Directorate for Nature Management considered yet another wolf hunt application - and this time, approved it. The application is for permission to kill a lone wolf in Gudbrandsdalen in south-eastern Norway. The wolf has been in the area for about a year and the sheep farmers have tried repeatedly to get permission to kill it despite the fact that it is actually known to have killed very few sheep. Nevertheless it has, of course, been widely blamed for every missing sheep and goat in the county. Norway's biggest environmental problem continues to be not its 13 wolves but its 2.5 million free-roaming, wholly unattended and heavily unprofitable sheep.

If you feel motivated to protest at the hunt then you can contact the Minister of Environment, Borge Brende at borge.brende@md.dep.no


Germany:

Following on the discovery of Germany's first wolf pack at Muskauer Heide, Christopher Promberger and Matthias Meisch, vice president of the German wolf association were among about 60 people who attended a meeting with the Saxony state government's Envornment Minister, Herr Gruschwitz, in February. The meeting turned out to be a talking shop rather than a decision making forum and Matthias told us that overall, attitudes were very positive. The local politicians and businessmen are generally happy about the presence of the wolves and feel that they are a symbol of environmental good health which will bring in tourism and other benefits. The government looks as though it will be prepared to honour its commitment to the Bern convention and adopt a management plan which will inevitably include paying compensation for livestock losses where necessary. Matthias told us that the German public as a whole is also pretty laid back about the return of wolves to the country and cited the humorous reaction of the Bavarian public to the recent escape of five wolves from a zoo. It seems that that the good citizens of Bavaria thought it more important to make rude jokes about the fumbling efforts of officials to recapture the animals than to get in a panic about them. As for the pack itself, no-one is aware of any deaths - natural or otherwise - in the pack and the animals seem to be hunting in pairs rather than as a whole pack at the moment. There are probably no cubs this year.

In case you didn't already know, Germany has become the first European nation to guarantee animal rights in its constitution. In May, 543 lawmakers in Germany's lower house of parliament voted in favour of giving animals constitutional rights. Nineteen voted against and 15 abstained. If the amendment to Article 20a of the German Basic Law is approved by the Bundesrat l;ater this year then it will, in future, read:
"The state takes responsibility for protecting the natural foundations of life and animals in the interest of future generations."