Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population • Hacker News Board

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#11

Post by themartorana » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

dalke wrote: post #3

labster wrote: post #2

Who made Anders Brevik the environment minister? That population would be below the level necessary to maintain genetic diversity. At least in NZ, the Kiwis have the decency to say that they want a species eliminated outright. And before you downvote, ask yourself: Senseless violence to stop outsiders who are just trying to survive: is it really any less bad when the outsiders are animals?

These wolves are not outsiders. They are native to Norway. Brevik killed Norwegians, in opposition to immigration. He did not directly kill outsiders. This is not a one-off event. The Norwegian government has done this before. From 2001, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/killing-wolves-in-norway/ > A Norwegian government team killed the fourth of nine wolves ordered felled in a hunt that has outraged conservationists and S…

A designated "wolf-free zone" is crazy, but the wolves should have read the signs.

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#12

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 2:01 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#13

Post by musha68k » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 2:02 PM UTC

I'm disappointed of Norway, they could do so much better than that.

It's strange as they usually do - remember how humanely and thoughtful they handled the terror incidents of 2011.

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#14

Post by 2trill2spill » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 2:03 PM UTC

It's amazing how low the wolf population is in Norway, 68 wolfs in the entire country! While here in Minnesota we have nearly 2,300 wolfs across 439 wolf packs mid winter 2016[1]. But that puts them only at 3.2 wolves per 100 km2 of occupied range[2]. That must make the wolf density and total range in Norway absurdly low, why would they "cull" the wolfs when there are so few.

Plus the wolfs are not really a problem here in Minnesota, a few people's pets have been killed, which sucks but thats all you really here about.

[1]: http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2016/08/22/minnesotas-wolf-popul...

[2]: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/wildlife/wolves/2015/survey_wol...

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#15

Post by jackgavigan » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 2:07 PM UTC

This is sad.

Although the gray wolf as a species is classifed as "Least Concern" by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), the Scandinavian wolf population is classified as 'Engdangered'.

Instead of killing wolves, we should be trapping them and redistributing them to help ensure genetic diversity in isolated populations like Scandinavia's.

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#16

Post by tn13 » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 2:32 PM UTC

Why not allow people to buy these wolves to be kept in private forests ?

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#17

Post by HillRat » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 2:35 PM UTC

themartorana wrote: post #11

dalke wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These wolves are not outsiders. They are native to Norway. Brevik killed Norwegians, in opposition to immigration. He did not directly kill outsiders. This is not a one-off event. The Norwegian government has done this before. From 2001, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/killing-wolves-in-norway/ > A Norwegian government team killed the fourth of nine wolves ordered felled in a hunt that has outraged conservationists and S…

A designated "wolf-free zone" is crazy, but the wolves should have read the signs.

You know, people get on the US for our dangerously-lax gun culture, but our concealed wolf crime rates are significantly below Northern Europe.

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#18

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 2:36 PM UTC

labster wrote: post #2

Who made Anders Brevik the environment minister? That population would be below the level necessary to maintain genetic diversity. At least in NZ, the Kiwis have the decency to say that they want a species eliminated outright. And before you downvote, ask yourself: Senseless violence to stop outsiders who are just trying to survive: is it really any less bad when the outsiders are animals?

[deleted]

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#19

Post by refurb » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

tn13 wrote: post #16

Why not allow people to buy these wolves to be kept in private forests ?

Wolves can easily get over a 6 ft fence. How would you contain them in a "private forest"?

Re: Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

#20

Post by smackay » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

This decision is probably for political reasons in favour of two groups within Norway: hunters who probably want to shoot more deer and elk or perhaps moose and the Saami who get paid by the state based on the number of reindeer they have roaming the tundra in the mountains and the north of the country.

Not sure if the latter is still the case. When I last visited the far north the effects of overgrazing by reindeer were starting to be severe in places. The densities of reindeer are pretty high so wolves would have a spectacularly easy time and would do very well as a result.