Police and conservationists campaign for wolves

Farmers in Norway have been taking drastic measures to rid their farms of wolves, leading police and conservationists to team up in an effort to protect the animals. According to United Press International, Norway’s police have joined forces with environmentalists in a campaign to save wolves from death by poison or explosives, two of the ways famers are ridding themselves of what they consider to be a pest.

According to local researchers, as many as half of all wolf deaths in Scandinavia are caused by illegal hunting practices – in fact, many of the deaths are caused by farmers who claim the wolves are attacking their farm animals.

The situation has become tense. Kenneth Larsen of Hedmark University College is a researcher who tracks wolves for study. He recently went looking for a wolf he has been tracking, only to return to his car and find his tyres had been slashed.

Larsen’s college, Petter Wabakken, said that he and his team have found evidence of both poison and explosives being deployed against wolves and against their lairs. The region along the border with Sweden in Norway’s southern area is one of the most dangerous areas for wolves, he says.

According to Knut Maelen of the Hedmark Police District, the tyre slashing incident is just one indication of how bad things have become. He describes it as an “inflamed situation.”