Roughly translated by TWIN Observer
NATURE / TT The Swedish wolf population is likely to be relatively unchanged compared to last winter, according to the latest inventory result. At the same time rumors are going strong that poaching has increased.
It emerged at the International Wolf Symposium at Vålådalen in Jämtland.
The inventory teams have so far discovered 31 family groups, namely pairs with puppies, and 19 territorial marking couple without puppies in the Swedish-Norwegian population during the winter.
Of this amount, the majority, are 24 family groups and 16 territorial marking couple in Sweden.
This is significantly less than last year, when it counted 49 family groups and 19 territorial marking couple in Scandinavia. But the Viltskadecenter where figures are compiled emphasizes that inventories came very late this winter.
No tracking snow
“We started extremely late. We had no tracking snow until after the New Year,” says Linn Svensson at Viltskadecenter.
“We have 20 areas we still are doing. I do not think there will be some dramatic changes compared with last year. Maybe we will end up with the same figure as then.”
Three weeks of the season inventory and according to Linn Svensson is likely that several territories marking the couple will be upgraded to family groups.
“We will definitely increase the number of wolves,” she says.
New immigrants
Three new Finnish-Russian wolves have come into the country. Two of them are already dead. One was hit by a car and a one was poached, that is, shot. But the third has now formed territory in Dalarna and may eventually contribute fresh new genes to the Swedish wolf population.
Meanwhile, there are reports that indicate that the poaching of wolves may have increased. According to several analysts, there is much to suggest that this is the case.
The reason is the courts’ decisions to stop licensed hunting in several counties. This has brought bad blood in hunting circles.
“The atmosphere is worse than ever,” says Gunnar Glöersen, spokesperson on issues of major predators with the Hunters Association.
FACT: WOLF IN SWEDEN AND EUROPE
Sweden had last winter a population of 415 wolves.
In Europe, in the current situation than 30,000 wolves, half of them in Russia.
The largest populations outside Russia are in Romania (2500 wolves), Spain (2000), Ukraine (2000) and Belarus (2000).
A number of countries have strains that covers 650-850 Wolves: Poland, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Italy.
In the same size category as Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Macedonia, France, Finland and Portugal. All these countries have 200-450 wolves each.
Source: Science