Student assignment. (requirement for course by Peter Kabai)

THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF TODAYS SCANDINAVIAN WOLF POPULATION

Caroline Gulsvik veterinary student, 1st year

For centuries there has been a great discussion about the wolf situation in Norway. The conflict is mainly between sheep farmers on one hand, and people concerned about the extinction threat on the other hand.
From a big population in the 19th century, the wolf was nearly extinct at the end of the 20th century.
I want to find out the history of the wolf in Norway/Scandinavia, and about todays situation and population size.

The grey wolf, Canis lupus, has been a part of the norwegian fauna for many centuries, and it has been feared by people for just as long. It is one of the four great predators in Norway; brown bear, lynx, wolverine and wolf.
These four predators where found in great numbers in most part of the country until the middle of the 19th century. In 1845 the government instituted a prise on every wolf that was killed, this lead to an extensive hunt on the wolf (and the other predators) - every resource possible was used in the wolf hunt. Hunting techniques and weapons got more advanced, and poison and traps where used aswell. The number where reduced to between one and ten induviduals in the middle of the 1960s!

In this time period, agriculture also went through a dramatic change ? it was industrialized, and farmers had to adjust to economy. To be able to make a living out of farming, the livestock numbers was dramatically increased. Because of this, more grasslands where needed aswell. Mountains and forests where used as pastures ? areas that where the wolves? habitat. Farmers hunted predators that could harm their cattle and sheep. Gradually environmentalists realised that the number of wolves had gotten so low, that they where in danger of extinction.
Finally, in 1971, the wolf came on the list of endangered and protected species.
Hunting on wolf became illegal, and protection plans were made.
Very slowly, the wolf found its way back into the norwegian nature. But in their absence, sheep and other livestock had made their way into the wolves habitates. Sheep are quite easy prey for a wolf, and there are quite a few episodes where wolves have killed sheep ? and some farmers suffer economic losses because of this.
And this is where todays conflict begins. Who are entitled to the pastures and the mountainsides? The wolves or the sheep?

The wolfpopulation in Norway today must be seen together with Sweden?s wolf population. The development of the Norwegian and Swedish populations have been pretty much the same.
So from nearly extinct in the 60?s the population has slowly increased. But in this period, there where only a few induviduals, and for several generations the population comprised only a single breeding pack, and the genetic variability was low.

By the use of mitochondrial DNA, it has been profed that todays population most likely came from two wolves from Finland and north-western Russia. With the help of DNA analysis, it is believed that in the mid 80?s this immigration of wolves from the east took place.
And by these two induviduals, the wolf population increased dramatically (compared to previous decade) both in number and heterozygosity. When new genetic material was introduced, the risk of damage and mortality as a cause of inbreeding was reduced, so the population size could grow.

Today the Norwegian/Swedish population are mainly found in the forest areas in the south east of Norway and mid-west of Sweden (see map), mainly in forest areas, but sometimes on the mountains aswell. The government of the two countries cooperate to survail the population, protect it and at the same time try to protect the livestock in the area.

Wolf occasionally kill sheep or other domestic animals, but excrement tests show that they mainly live of moose, roedeer and badger. They also prey on bever, hare and birds.
Although there has been rather few cases where wolf has killed sheep, there has been some concentrated, rather big damages which is caused by stray wolves ? not the family groups.

The biggest threat of the wolf today is still sneak hunting by humans. This is linked to the fact that wolf can kill sheep, and therefore cause economical damage for farmers, but the general attitude towards the wolf is also a significant barrier - wolves still have a bad press with many people. Many humans are scared of the wolf, because it has a bad reputation in the folktails (as does the bear and other predators), but lately more and more people have a positive attitude to wolf protection.

The status of the wolfpopulation today:
Winter 2002/2003 there where eight observed familygroups/packs in Scandinavia. Eight puppie-litters where observed in 2002. In addition to the familygroups, there are nine potential wolfcouples, and four more unsecure couples. There are also a few stray wolves observed.

So as a conclusion we can see that from a few induviduals in the 1980's, the Scandinavian wolf population now has reached almost a hundred induviduals. Hopefully, there will be more immigration from Russia and Finland to increase the genetical variety and consequently the survival strength of the population.

As the population is increasing, the governments are at the same time trying to keep the economical losses (caused by wolf preying on domestic animals) down ? and in that way more people are changing their attitude towards the wolf.
Most Norwegians today think that the wolf has a place in the natural fauna - and the wolf is finding its way back these days...