Responsible tourism in Norway

When the hunters become the hunted

No more than 70 wolves inhabit Norway today, clustered along the Swedish border in the southeast, and they are listed as critically endangered. Despite polls showing 80 percent of Norwegians want to maintain or increase their tiny wolf population a cabal of vocal farmers and politicians appears intent on culling these animals. Around 2 million sheep graze untended in territory roamed by wolves and other predators, and fewer than 10 percent of the country's sheep farmers report any predation at all. Any losses that do occur - around 1,500 per year - are handsomely compensated by the government.

For a country that proclaims its love of nature and wildlife, Norwegian authorities seem to exclude predators from that equation. Just one percent of the country is designated as 'wolf zone' – though even here, only a few litters a year are permitted, with the rest being shot. Such low population levels on their own threaten the survival of Norway's wolves through lack of genetic viability, even without any direct assault on numbers. Thankfully, legal challenges are being made; a court case brought by wildlife associations resulted in a judge stopping a wolf cull around Junsele in February 2014.

Culls are justified using various dubious tactics. Arbitrary targets are set for the number of litters each year, unsupported by scientific reasoning and in the face of all evidence to the contrary with regard to dangers posed by the animals and the needs of genetic diversity. Another tactic is to simply assert the greater rights of livestock and reindeer over predators, thus allowing populations of animals under no threat at all to take precedence over animals on Norway's own Red List of 'critically endangered' species. A third approach is simply to designate certain individual wolves or other predators as 'problem individuals' – then shoot them.

Strong state support for the farming sector does not require a demonisation of Norway's predators that flies in the face of any professed national respect for nature.

What you can do:
Support wildlife associations and other campaigns seeking to protect these predators in Norway (and elsewhere). And write to Norwegian authorities – MPs, tourist bodies – letting them know you oppose the wolf culls, and making it clear that they damage the image of Norway. A good starting point is the Norwegian Ministry for the Environment who oversee Norway’s conservation policy.