Roughly translated by TWIN Observer
This week, the results of this year’s wolf inventory were reported and there are about 400 wolves on the Scandinavian peninsula. About half of these are in Värmland. But it remains highly uncertain whether there will be any license to hunt wolves this winter.
“It’s pretty much uncertainty around this, in that it is likely to be appealed. And we’ve still not received the judgment about last year’s hunting license,” said Maria Falkevik predator manager at the County Administrative Board of Värmland.
The wolf is still highly inbred to a level corresponding to the offspring of full siblings are breeding. But it is still a bit better than a few years ago. And the wolf population is growing by an average of about 15 percent a year.
Every year the wolves move away from here in search of new territory, but where there are large herds in southern Sweden or in the reindeer herding areas, it is difficult to establish a territory. But a spread over larger areas of the country than the strong population concentration today will still not be impossible according to Maria Falkevik on the County Board. There is not any real danger licensed hunting threatening the conservation status of the wolf population, she says.
“As it looks now, the wolf has a very good growth. And as long as it looks like that it’s not a risk that we get too few wolves. Then we will see signs of it early on, in that case. Then it is rather the opposite – a challenge that actually manages to reduce the wolf population. One should remember that the more wolves we have, the more wolves shoot if you want to keep the wolf population at the same level year after year. You should also lower it so it is also about many animals.
“It is perhaps not everyone understands the connection and still sees the wolf as an extremely endangered animal. But now it’s about wildlife management. It’s not about a species that is on the brink of extinction, but this is a species that has a pretty strong growth,” says Maria Falkevik.