Recommendations for the adoption of the new Finnish Wolf Management Plan

#Act4
AnimalsEU

Recommendations for the adoption of the new Finnish Wolf Management Plan

5 September 2019
Susiryhmä
News
The short-term objective of the management plan shall be the minimum viable wolf population defined by 25 breeding pairs of wolves and the long-term objective shall be a favorable conservation status of the wolf population.

The smallest viable wolf population is quite easily reachable without human intervention, but this amount is also quite susceptible to wolf population collapse under excessive hunting. One of the short-term goals must also be to keep the leader and collar alive alive, as these wolf individuals have often been caught in both legal and illegal hunting. At the very least, the cost of strapping should be reimbursed for killing the harness, so that hunting does not kill the harness simply because other individuals were not killed. This has happened on several occasions in the past in connection with the wolf hunting which is used for population management.

It is good that the management plan takes into account cooperation with Finland's neighbors and the importance of changing people's attitudes towards wolves. Wolves do not naturally cross the border to Sweden or Norway, at least not to survive long enough to reproduce. The wolves are regularly killed in the reindeer herding area. However, there is no mention in the management plan that increasing numbers of wolves can live in the reindeer herding area in Fin