Posted By: Mira Trapper
Reality Check on Wolves, 3 stories - 01/25/08 08:48 PM
The New York Times
A Finnish Turf Battle Pits Wolf Against Reindeer Herder
By STEPHEN CASTLE
January 21, 2008
http://www.nytimes. com/2008/ 01/21/world/ europe/21wolves. html
SUOMUSSALMI, Finland --- Close to the tiny Finnish village of
Saaravaara, bloody tracks lead through the snow to the frozen carcass
of an 8-month-old male reindeer lying on its side, its neck torn, its
underbelly ripped open.
Within minutes, Ilmari Schepel, a local agriculture official,
identified the culprit: a wolf. His evidence was the shape of the bite
to the animal's throat and the belly tear; wolves are particularly
fond of reindeer intestines.
This town, a 20-minute drive from Finland's border with Russia and
more than 375 miles northeast of Helsinki, is on the front line of
Finland's wolf wars. The fight is between backers of European Union
regulations, which are meant to halt sharp drops in the population of
wolves and other endangered predators across Europe, and the roughly
7,000 reindeer herders whose livelihoods are threatened by increased
attacks on their animals.
Finland, which joined the European Union in 1995, came under criticism
that its hunting practices did not mesh with European habitat
directives. So in 2001, the Finnish government tightened its hunting
laws to meet European Union standards. Finnish law now states that
every kill must be covered by a permit and restricts the number of
permits to about 10 percent of a particular predator's known numbers.
Seven years later, the populations of wolves, lynxes, brown bears and
wolverines in Finland have grown substantially, according to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Helsinki. In this area, the
number of wolves has roughly tripled since 1996, and attacks on
reindeer herds have increased more than threefold in the past 10
years.
The level of anger about the hunting restrictions is high here. In one
telling example, Stavros Dimas, the European environment commissioner
who insisted on the hunting crackdown to protect the endangered
predators, received a bullet in his mailbox from an irate hunter.
Asko Moilanen, 40, a third-generation herder, said that because of his
losses to predators over the past three years, his income from
reindeer has been reduced to almost nothing. "Either we should be
allowed to hunt or they should pay compensation for the real losses,"
he said. "It affects my whole life and my family."
Mr. Moilanen, who is married with four children, depends on his wife's
earnings to stay afloat. "The people are poor here, but I am a beggar.
Last year on my tax return, I declared just 100 dollars earned from
herding."
Herders complain that state compensation for lost reindeer --- each
carcass fetches about $439 --- is inadequate because it fails to take
account the remains of those that are never found. The Agriculture and
Forestry Ministry says the herders are fairly compensated.
In much of Finland, reindeer hold a hallowed place in the collective
imagination, perhaps akin to the buffalo in the history of the
American West. Farther north toward the Arctic Circle, Lapland is the
supposed home of Santa Claus and his flying reindeer. Less sentimental
Finns enjoy eating reindeer: fried, sautéed, smoked or cold.
For its part, the European Commission insists that, under the European
Habitats Directive, wolves have the right to be protected. "Men and
wolves have lived together for centuries, and there is no reason why
they should not continue to do so," said Barbara Helfferich, a
spokeswoman for Mr. Dimas, the European environment commissioner. "We
need to ensure coexistence and protect the species according to the
law."
The area around Suomussalmi is just north of the line that marks the
country's reindeer herding zone. Before Finnish law was amended in
2001, there were few restrictions on hunting of predators here.
On a recent day in the snow-covered forest, Kalervo Rytinki, a retired
policeman and herder, demonstrated how wolves are now hunted by
uncoiling a rope marked with small black flags that he tied around
trees. The rope --- known as a flag line --- enclosed an area where a
pack was known to be roaming. Because the line was dipped in a pungent
oil made from elk antlers, the wolves would be reluctant to cross the
line.
Gradually, the hunters reduced the area enclosed by the flag line to
trap the wolves.
Though herders here had permits to kill three wolves, Mr. Rytinki said
the hunt was halted because the wolf pack numbered at least nine and
there was a risk that more than three reindeer would be killed before
the wolves were trapped. He said there was no illegal hunting here
because anyone breaking the law could lose their rifle, face fines
related to income and go to jail for up to two years.
While those hunters were law abiding, some conservationist say the
same cannot be said for the country as a whole. Matti Nieminen, a
spokesman for the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, said
that there was too much illegal hunting of wolves and that licensing
should focus on the wolves that kill most local animals.
According to Ilpo Kojola, a senior research scientist at the Finnish
Game and Fisheries Research Institute, mortality among wolves runs at
about 20 percent a year. Nine of 10 dead wolves are killed by humans
and, of those, about 30 percent die in illegal hunts, he said.
Finland last year lost a court case brought by the European
Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, which ruled that
Finns had failed to protect wolves from hunters. The commission is
expected to review the case and decide in the next two weeks whether
the authorities in Helsinki protect wolves and other endangered
predators sufficiently.
A Finnish Turf Battle Pits Wolf Against Reindeer Herder
By STEPHEN CASTLE
January 21, 2008
http://www.nytimes. com/2008/ 01/21/world/ europe/21wolves. html
SUOMUSSALMI, Finland --- Close to the tiny Finnish village of
Saaravaara, bloody tracks lead through the snow to the frozen carcass
of an 8-month-old male reindeer lying on its side, its neck torn, its
underbelly ripped open.
Within minutes, Ilmari Schepel, a local agriculture official,
identified the culprit: a wolf. His evidence was the shape of the bite
to the animal's throat and the belly tear; wolves are particularly
fond of reindeer intestines.
This town, a 20-minute drive from Finland's border with Russia and
more than 375 miles northeast of Helsinki, is on the front line of
Finland's wolf wars. The fight is between backers of European Union
regulations, which are meant to halt sharp drops in the population of
wolves and other endangered predators across Europe, and the roughly
7,000 reindeer herders whose livelihoods are threatened by increased
attacks on their animals.
Finland, which joined the European Union in 1995, came under criticism
that its hunting practices did not mesh with European habitat
directives. So in 2001, the Finnish government tightened its hunting
laws to meet European Union standards. Finnish law now states that
every kill must be covered by a permit and restricts the number of
permits to about 10 percent of a particular predator's known numbers.
Seven years later, the populations of wolves, lynxes, brown bears and
wolverines in Finland have grown substantially, according to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Helsinki. In this area, the
number of wolves has roughly tripled since 1996, and attacks on
reindeer herds have increased more than threefold in the past 10
years.
The level of anger about the hunting restrictions is high here. In one
telling example, Stavros Dimas, the European environment commissioner
who insisted on the hunting crackdown to protect the endangered
predators, received a bullet in his mailbox from an irate hunter.
Asko Moilanen, 40, a third-generation herder, said that because of his
losses to predators over the past three years, his income from
reindeer has been reduced to almost nothing. "Either we should be
allowed to hunt or they should pay compensation for the real losses,"
he said. "It affects my whole life and my family."
Mr. Moilanen, who is married with four children, depends on his wife's
earnings to stay afloat. "The people are poor here, but I am a beggar.
Last year on my tax return, I declared just 100 dollars earned from
herding."
Herders complain that state compensation for lost reindeer --- each
carcass fetches about $439 --- is inadequate because it fails to take
account the remains of those that are never found. The Agriculture and
Forestry Ministry says the herders are fairly compensated.
In much of Finland, reindeer hold a hallowed place in the collective
imagination, perhaps akin to the buffalo in the history of the
American West. Farther north toward the Arctic Circle, Lapland is the
supposed home of Santa Claus and his flying reindeer. Less sentimental
Finns enjoy eating reindeer: fried, sautéed, smoked or cold.
For its part, the European Commission insists that, under the European
Habitats Directive, wolves have the right to be protected. "Men and
wolves have lived together for centuries, and there is no reason why
they should not continue to do so," said Barbara Helfferich, a
spokeswoman for Mr. Dimas, the European environment commissioner. "We
need to ensure coexistence and protect the species according to the
law."
The area around Suomussalmi is just north of the line that marks the
country's reindeer herding zone. Before Finnish law was amended in
2001, there were few restrictions on hunting of predators here.
On a recent day in the snow-covered forest, Kalervo Rytinki, a retired
policeman and herder, demonstrated how wolves are now hunted by
uncoiling a rope marked with small black flags that he tied around
trees. The rope --- known as a flag line --- enclosed an area where a
pack was known to be roaming. Because the line was dipped in a pungent
oil made from elk antlers, the wolves would be reluctant to cross the
line.
Gradually, the hunters reduced the area enclosed by the flag line to
trap the wolves.
Though herders here had permits to kill three wolves, Mr. Rytinki said
the hunt was halted because the wolf pack numbered at least nine and
there was a risk that more than three reindeer would be killed before
the wolves were trapped. He said there was no illegal hunting here
because anyone breaking the law could lose their rifle, face fines
related to income and go to jail for up to two years.
While those hunters were law abiding, some conservationist say the
same cannot be said for the country as a whole. Matti Nieminen, a
spokesman for the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, said
that there was too much illegal hunting of wolves and that licensing
should focus on the wolves that kill most local animals.
According to Ilpo Kojola, a senior research scientist at the Finnish
Game and Fisheries Research Institute, mortality among wolves runs at
about 20 percent a year. Nine of 10 dead wolves are killed by humans
and, of those, about 30 percent die in illegal hunts, he said.
Finland last year lost a court case brought by the European
Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, which ruled that
Finns had failed to protect wolves from hunters. The commission is
expected to review the case and decide in the next two weeks whether
the authorities in Helsinki protect wolves and other endangered
predators sufficiently.