Wildlife Ecology 2004

Marit Brekk, veterinary student, English program, 1^st year.

CONSERVATION OF WOLVERINES IN EUROPE

The wolverine, Gulo gulo, is a medium-sized carnivore and the largest terrestrial member of the weasel family Mustelidae. They occupy vast areas of the tundra and boreal forest in North-America, Scandinavia and Asia at very low densities.

Their appearance is somewhat bear-like, although movement and associated behaviour are distinctly characteristic of the weasels. Wolverines are powerfully built, with structural morphology apparently adapted for cold, harsh conditions. Like the Norwegian ecologist, who have done a lot of research on wolverines, Arild Landa, have said: “The wolverines are determined to win”. The dentition and associated musculature create a powerful bite and enable both sexes to forage on frozen meat and bone. Wolverines are considered to be scavenging predators because they feed largely on carrion like reindeer, moose, fox, hare, small rodents and sheep, but they will also consume berries, mushrooms, insects and birds. Wolverines are true generalists, able to switch between different foodsources depending on what is available.

Males (12-18 kg) are typically 30-40% larger than females (8-13kg).

After reading the ”Action plan for the Conservation of Wolverines in Europe” (http://www.coe.int/t/e/Cultural_Co-operation/Environment/Nature_and_biological_diversity/Publications/SN115-E.pdf),

worked out and written by Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish ecologists and nature researchers, I decided to use this report as a source to find out about the situation of the wolverine population in Scandinavia, with the mainlook on Norway. Is the population increasing or decreasing at the moment? And how is the situation between wolverines and people. Is it hope for a coexisting between us and this wild animal? And what have been done/can be done to help farmers and wolverines living side by side, without destroying each others lives too much?

Distribution

In addition to their circumpolar distribution across Siberia and North-America, wolverines once occurred throughout the European part of Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states and northeast Poland. During the 19th century, wolverines disappeared from the southernmost parts of these areas in Europe mainly due to persecution, but also due to deforestation and other human developments.

Today surviving populations are found in central and northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and European Russia, ranging across alpine, tundra and northern taiga habitats. There are estimated to be around 2000 wolverines left in the wild Europe, of which 1500 are found in Russia, and a minimum of 165 in Sweden, 150 in Norway and 110 in Finland.

 Figure 1; Present day distribution of the wolverine in Europe.

(Enkarta encyclopedia, Mikrosoft

Until the beginning of this century, the species was distributed throughout most of the forested and mountain areas as far south as the southernmost counties of Norway. Today wolverines are found mainly in mountains areas in south-central Norway and along the Norwegian-Swedish border from Hedmark county and northwards. Wolverines were hunted to functional extinction in Southern Norway, where the species received protection in 1973.

The hunting statistics from Northern-Norway during this century suggest pronounced fluctuations in population densities, and these where extreme low when protection was introduced in 1982. However, populations and distributions increased following this protection until 1993, when licensed hunting was introduced. The population was estimated to be a minimum of 120 individuals during 1995-97, but seems to be decreasing, as revealed by a decreasing number of active natal dens recorded during recent years. And today we find the Gulo gulo under the categorie Vulnerable of threat in Norway, together with the Lutra lutra and the Lynx lynx. This apparent decline could be a result of the licensed hunting and illegal killing, but could also be a result of variation in the weather/snow conditions.

In Sweden the hunting statistics indicate that the population declined steeply from about 1870 until they received protection in 1969. Then the population started to increase. Today the population seems to be stable, although limited and restricted local control actions were introduced in 1996.

In Finland the wolverine population reached its minimum with a population of 50-80 animals before receiving protection in 1982. Today the population is stable to slightly increasing.

In Russia populations are believed to fluctuate according to fluctuations in ungulate populations. However, a considerable overall decrease in population numbers seems to have taken place during the last 30 years.

(http://www.coe.int/t/e/Cultural_Co-operation/Environment/Nature_and_biological_diversity/Publications/SN115-E.pdf)

Wolverines and humans

In the “Action Plan” I could read that the overall opinion of the general public in Norway is to protect wolverines. But in the area where I live in Norway, a place with a lot of farming, approximately 500 metres over see level, I know from own experience, that this is not a common opinion for all. Where wolverines prey upon livestock, the public attitudes of course are more varied, and for the most they are negative to wolverine conservation. I mean it is easy to understand the reactions of the farmers when they year after year lose a lot of animals because of the wolverines. At my homeplace a farmer found a lot of his sheep dead during summer and autumn two years after each other. And it could surely be said that the death was caused by wolverines. Of course occurrences like that spread fear and frustration among the farmers. And the report I red can tell that wolverine predation on unattended sheep (during summer) is well documented in Norway. (In Sweden and Finland almost no unattended sheep grazing occurs in wolverine areas.)

Wolverine predation on semi domestic reindeer is also well documented in Norway.

So it is quite easy to understand that the most pronounced negative attitudes in Norway are among sheep farmers and the indigenous sami (Lapps) people. It has been serious conflicts because of the damage the wolverine does to the farmers and the sami, and in my opinion it is easy to understand their situation. They feel the wolverine as a threat against their livelihood.

How to live in harmony with the wolverine?

"There is still a lot of good wolverine habitat left throughout the mountains and forests of Scandinavia, Finland, and Russia. The only limitation is human acceptance of wolverine. If the conflicts between wolverine and livestock can be decreased, then wolverines should have a good future in all Scandinavia. However, there is a very long road to walk before we can achieve this goal."

(Dr John D C Linnell, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research).

Typically habitats for wolverines are steep mountain areas inaccessible for humans in general.

If the animals were given the chance to live in these areas, without disturbing from humans, we maybe didn’t have all this problems with them today. Instead increased constructions of roads into areas where people earlier had no access, have caused wolverines to avoid the disturbed areas. They have to search for new habitats, and suddenly the man and the wolverine must fight for the same areas to live.

To avoid problems like this we should let wild nature be wild, and don’t try to take the habitats from the wild animals, if we can’t manage to coexist with them.

Intensive grazing by sheep alters the conditions for small herbivores and then next also for other wildlife. This can affect the wolverines in a negative way, because the amount of natural prey will be reduced.

In this way I guess the farmers will experience that the amount of wolverines will be reduced in the areas where their sheep are grazing, and for them this will be good. And I believe that the wolverines are able to find other areas where they can live, where sheep farming is not that common/easy to practise.

But like I see it, overgrazing of huge areas is not a very good way to get off with the wolverines. Of course it maybe has its effect, and the conflict-area can be better utilized of the farmers, but overgrazing doesn’t only disturb the wolverine. The whole ecosystem will be hurt and in unequilibrium, and that is not what we want.

A very interesting, and not at least important part of the report, is the chapter about Hunting, legal killing and poaching (Ch. 2.5.7., Action plan for the conservation of the wolverine in Europe).

This is one of the most discussed parts of the wolverine-conservation I guess. Not too many – Not too few. It’s all about finding the perfect equilibrium, where farmers can live without fright for the wolverines, and the threat they are against the livestock. But it is also very important to take care of the wolverines in a valuable way. All the poaching that is regularly revealed, and can be as high as 15-20% of the population, is frightened to read about.

Legal killing must occur, but in a restricted and controlled way, to try to make the situation acceptable both for the humans and the wolverine. Farmers that live in conflicts with the wolverine, have demands for killing permits. And all Fennoscandian countries offer compensation for livestock killed by wolverines.

I have now tried to discuss some of the problems about coexisting between human and wolverine. I have my opinions, but I have to say; I have never worked with this problem in practise, so maybe some of my thoughts about this are not very realistic.

Anyway is my main opinion after working with this report about wolverine conservation, that we have to take care of this fascinating, mysterious, but also very dangerous animal. All wild animals by the way. We don’t have the right to steal the areas they have been given on this earth. But because the human is the “strongest and the fittest”, it’s very easy to do things in a way that makes everything easy for ourselves. I think it’s important to keep in mind that wild animals and humans live in the same huge ecosystem, and that we both make an important role, but in different ways.

Scientific articles and literature I have used for the essay:

http://www.coe.int/t/e/Cultural_Co-operation/Environment/Nature_and_biological_diversity/Publications/SN115-E.pdf

http://www.animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Gulo_gulo.html

http://www.cartage.org.Ib/en/sciences/Zoology/EndageredSpecies/Wolverine.htm.

http://www..zoologi.no/fakta/jerv.htm  (In Norwegian)

http://www.naturforvaltning.no/acchive/images/01/11Brosj017.pdf  (In Norwegian)

Encarta, encyclopaedia produced of Microsoft.

 Wildlife ecology 

 2004.04.15.

 Marit Brekk