The Norwegian Carnivore & Raptor Society, WWF - Norway and the Norwegian Society for Conservation of Nature take legal actions tomorrow in order to postpone the scheduled wolf hunt on Saturday.
The preliminary appeal to the Ministry of the Environment to put off the hunt was dismissed today.
The decision came as no surprise, and our lawyer, Nils Ihlen Ramm, is now preparing our case which will be presented to the court tomorrow morning.
It is our firm belief that the decision violates Norwegian law, international agreements and also a recent agreement between Norway and Sweden, and we have high hopes that the court decision will result in a postponement of the Saturday hunt start. Should the court rule otherwise, then the fate of the nine wolves is finally decided. They will be shot.
Another development today: a wolf was shot due to injuries. The wolf does not be belong to the pack to be hunted down, but probably the nearby pack. The leg injury may have been caused by an illegal trapping device.
NCRS, Monday, 5. February 2001
9 WOLVES TO BE KILLED
(and 10 later)
On February 5, 2001 the Norwegian authorities decided to cull 9 wolves out of a minute Norwegian population numbering below 30 individuals. The first pack to be killed is the Atndal pack in Co. Hedmark (pack no. 1 on the map. This pack include an intact alpha pair (recently confirmed) and 5 offspring. In addition pair no. 13 on the map will be killed.
Use of motorized vehicles including helicopters is authorized.
The decision is said to be a compromise following a Swedish intervention, as the wolves in the two countries are regarded as a shared population of below 100 individuals. The original intention was to take out 17 wolves, i.e. the two packs in the northern part of County Hedmark in East-Norway. The present plan is to put only one of the packs to death in addition to a newly formed pair south of the area.
On the other hand, the local council in Rendalen will then be authorized to issue permits to kill wolves belonging to the other family group - the Koppang pack (no. 2 on the map) - during the upcoming pasture season should acute situations arise involving loss of livestock, and it will subsequently be taken out. In the Koppang pack only one alpha wolf is left following the shooting of the alpha male in August 2000.
The wolf trackers in Sweden have recently confirmed that there are at least one alpha wolf also in pack no. 9 and pack no. 13 (see the map). This means that there are 12 confirmed packs in Scandinavia at present. Only 5 of these packs contain confirmed intact alpha pairs so far (which, in fact, is a premise in the definition of a family group according to the wolf management agreement between Swedish and Norwegian authorities in 1998).
The decision:
(Non-authorised translation)
05.02.01: Decision on culling of wolf and other measures to prevent loss of livestock in Østerdalen.
The Directorate for nature management takes steps to prevent loss of livestock by large carnivores in Østerdalen in County Hedmark. The measures include both culling of predators and the implementation of preventive measures where culling is regarded as less useful in the present situation.
Measures to be implemented:
1. Pursuant to the Wildlife Act of 29. May 1981 no. 38 § 12, re Regulation 30. June 2000 no. 656 on the management of bear, wolverine, wolf and lynx § 3 re § 2, the Directorate implements the decision of the culling of up to 9 wolves within the home range of the Atndal group and the possible pair in Imsdalen in the period 10.02.01 - 06.04.01.
2. The municipality of Rendalen is provided with up to 8 million Norwegian kroner for preventive measures against loss of livestock to predators in the pasture season 2001, where measures of first priority is the preventing of losses inflicted by the Koppang wolf group.
3. Prior to the pasture season the municipality of Rendalen will be delegated the authority to decide on shooting permits on wolves, re § 3 in the Regulation, in that way to prevent imminent losses during the pasture season.