Wolf Canis lupus

WOLF (Canis lupus)

The gray wolf once inhabited most, if not all, of the Northern Hemisphere. Excluding modern man, the wolf was the most widely distributed land mammal that ever lived. Wolves live in nearly all habitats except for tropical rain forests and deserts. The Gray Wolf (also spelled Grey Wolf - also known as Timber Wolf or Wolf) is a mammal in the order Carnivora. There were once at least thirty different subspecies of wolf. Most have become extinct. About five subspecies survive today. Wolves are able to survive anywhere there is adequate food and human tolerance.

The Finnish wolf population was hunted down in the 1920's. At present, in 2010 there are only about 150 wolves living in Finland. This population is a part of a large Russian wolf population. In the whole Russia there are about 30 000 wolves, but just across the border, in Karelia, only about 350 individuals.

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Finland - Suomi

Finland - in Finnish Suomi - is situated in the Northern Europe with Sweden, Norway and Russia as its neighbouring countries. The republic is also a member of the European Union. Finland is one of the largest countries in Europe, the total area is 337 032 sq km. There are only about 5,2 million inhabitants in the country, thus the density of population is about 16 inhabitants per sq km. The Finnish landscape is strongly dominated by lakes and forests. About 75 % of the country consists of forests. There are more than 60 000 lakes in Finland. Though the countryside is widely inhabited, there are still large wildernesses and the diversity of flora and fauna is significant. In the wild nature you may still see some predatory animals, such as bear, wolverine, lynx and wolf.

In the whole Finland there are nowadays only 150 wolves.

Russia

Russian Wolf

Russian wolves are among the largest subspecies of gray wolf in the world. They occur in North Central Russia and are hunted legally. Their numbers have declined sharply since the early twentieth century due to a combination of federal wolf hunting initiatives and bounties, both of which have been largely discontinued since the fall of the Soviet Union.

According to V.V. Kozlov, a researcher in the Oksy Reserve and the Stolby Reserve in the 1950's and 1960's, the USSR destroyed 42,300 wolves in 1945, 62,700 wolves in 1946, 58,700 wolves in 1947, 57,600 in 1948, and 55,300 in 1949. From 1950 until 1954, an average of 50,000 wolves were killed annually in the USSR. The wolf survived mostly because of the vast amount of territory that was not inhabited by humans. The struggle continued where wolves and humans lived side-by-side. As a result, their numbers have stabilized somewhat.

In the whole Russia there are nowadays about 30 000 wolves.

Finnish Wolf

The majority of the Finnish wolf population lives in the wildernesses near the Russian border crossing it in both ways, mostly from Russia to Finland. In many ways this is a big problem. The authorities would like to see the wolf population to spread out to the whole country. At the moment this is not the case. This fact causes problems to the wolves. The people in the eastern part of Finland find the wolf population too large. However, when wolves try to spread out to other parts of the country, they are confronted with great fear and prejudice in their new habitats. Wolf seems to be an unwanted quest in the whole country.

Poaching

Poaching is also a great threat to the Finnish wolf population. The authorities do not know the exact number of wolves killed by the poachers. Some cases are revealed every year. Wolves have full protection under the EU Habitats Directive. The only exception is an individual considered to be a serious danger to people or property, and even then the killing has to be supervised.

In the beginning of the 21st century, the number of wolves started to rise, thanks to protective measures. In 2007 there were approximately 300 wolves in Finland. In the beginning of the 21st century the wolf population had spread nearly over the whole country. After 2007 the wolf population started to plummet, mainly because of poaching. Today, in year 2010 there are approximately only 150 wolves remaining in Finland.

Wolf Population Drops Due to Illegal Hunting

Finlands wolf population has fallen to under 150 from last years numbers of 150-180, according to latest figures from the Finnish Games and Fisheries Research Institute. The insitute says that illegal wolf-hunting is largely responsible for the drop.

The institute completed its wolf count this week. According to researcher Samuli Heikkinen, it is clear that people kill dozens of wolves every year.

When we leave aside traffic-related deaths and deaths from other natural causes, there remains no other option, he says. Meanwhile, the Finnish Hunters Association estimates that over 300 wolves roamed Finland last year in other words, twice the number that the institute has put forward. Samuli Heikkinen says that the associations figures are erroneous and stem from a different way of counting wolves.

Hunters count the same tracks several times, Heikkinen says.
(YLE - 4.2.2011)

The wolf population in Finland

The wolf population in Finland is still very small and wolf is classified as a very endangered species. This is why there is a need to increase the number of wolves under the control of administrative authorities.

In the year 2000 there were only about 100 wolves in Finland. At present in 2010 the number of them is about 150. The authorities have made a special management plan, which defines all the necessary measures to be taken in all wolf-related questions, including the expected increase of the Finnish wolf population.

The plan to increase the number of wolves and to expand their regional habitats has met a lot of resistance and caused various problems in the country. The public debate about these issues in the Finnish media has fiercely been going on year by year.

Reindeer husbandry covers about one third of the total area of the country. This large area, which is also the traditional habitat of the Finnish wolf population, includes all Lapland and some other northern parts of the country. Wolves are not accepted by reindeer-owners, because they cause considerable damage to the reindeer husbandry. Hunters also regard wolves as a threat, because every year wolves kill some 30 50 dogs during the elk-hunting season. Wolves also kill some other domestic animals in small amount every year (e.g. sheep). In some parts of the country worried parents have organized transportation to their children, because they fear the wolves may attack the children on their way to school. (The state is not obliged to offer free transportation to the school children, if the distance from home to school is less than 5 km).

The people wanting to protect our wolves continuously remind the public, that the animal is absolutely an endangered species and of no threat to human beings. According to official records wolves have killed people in the 19th century. Ever since there have been no attacks or attempts to harm a human being by wolves.

Russian wolves against Japanese wild boars

Japanese farmers are hoping to defend their crop fields from inroads of wild boars and deer by using wolves that they plan to bring from Russia. A project to this effect is already on the Japanese governments table.

Experts point to the Island of Kyushu, which is famous for its dried "shiitake" mushrooms- a popular treat in local cuisine and a food of choice for wild boars. Their ever-increasing population on Kyushu remains the main headache for local farmers who are also concerned about wild deers inroads on the cultivated rice fields. The farmers are trying their best to fix the problem on their own, but to no avail. Suffice it to mention the Japanese city of Bungoono, where the problem caused about 300,000 dollars in damage last year. Given that wolves were totally destroyed in Japan last century, all eyes will understandably be on Russias readiness to cooperate on the matter, which is a headache of quite a few countries, including the United States. A pack of wolves was brought there from Canada last year to secure crop fields.

Maria Vorontsova, of the World Wildlife Fund, believes that Japan shot itself in the foot by deciding to destroy wolves in the 20th century.

"It was a typical situation at the time, when wolves were seen by many as harmful predators that must be exterminated by all means," Vorontsova says, citing the United States and Western Europe, where wolves were totally destroyed. Right now, she explains, wolf populations remain only in Spain and Germany."

Hunting wolves for decades, people played down the fact that wolves contribute considerably to regulating some species populations, which rightly prompted environmentalists to call these predators forest ambulant attendants. "Small wonder, therefore, that Japanese scientists are now scratching their heads in an attempt to rectify the situation and restore the wolf population in their country as soon as possible. This is certainly a tricky task," Maria Vorontsova says.

"Wolf population restoration efforts are specifically fulfilled within the framework of the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN)," Vorontsova explains, separately warning against dealing with the wolves based in zoos. Such species will understandably be doomed in the wild, she says, stressing the importance of sticking to IUCN norms."

Vorontsova also cautioned against sending too many wolf species to Japan, which she said is fraught with uncontrolled wolf population growth there. "It is up to Japanese authorities to finally decide on the topic," she said, echoed by Tokyo-based wolf expert Naoki Maruyama, who cited the scientifically proven efficiency of using wolves for the protection of crop fields. Separately, he reassured Japanese farmers about wolves possible attacks on people, which he said is a very rare phenomenon. (Voice of Russia - Andrei Smirnov, Elena Kovachich - 18.1.2011)