The wolves in Finland have been there much longer than the humans. But the feelings toward wolves is a complicated one with the Finnish people. Finland is part of Scandinavia and is nestled along side of the huge country of Russia. It is a beautiful country consisting of mostly forests and lakes. But even in the depths of the wilderness of Finland, humans have been moving into all stretches of the wild and are increasingly coming face to face with Finland's wildlife including the wolves.
The Finnish wolf population was hunted down in the 1920's out of hatred. Currently there are less than 200 wolves living in Finland which have mostly crossed the border from Russia which is home to around 30,000 wolves. The controversy and hatred towards wolves in Finland arises from the fact that Finland is a herding country of the iconic Reindeer. In much of Finland the reindeer hold a hallowed place in the country. Further north toward the Arctic Circle, Lapland is the supposed home of Santa Claus and his flying reindeer. Less sentimental however is the fact that Finns enjoy eating reindeer: fried, sautéed, smoked or cold. The wolves also will eat reindeer and this fact has only increased the hatred from the Finnish herders.
In 2001, Finland joined the European Union. Before Finnish law was amended in 2001 to meet EU standards, there were few restrictions on hunting of predators here. Now, every kill must be covered by a permit. Currently the ministry of Agriculture and Forestry grants around 30 permits a year. The European Commission insists that, under the European Habitats Directive, wolves have the right to be protected - whatever their "nationality" - when in EU territory. "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 Dimas.
This has not set well with some of the Finnish people who feel that the wolves are incringing on their livelihood as herders. Poaching of wolves has become a very common problem in Finland. Poaching is a very serious and large-scale form of hunting crime that should never be accepted, silently or otherwise.
According to Ilpo Kojola, senior research scientist at the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, mortality among wolves runs at about 20 percent a year. Nine out of 10 dead wolves are killed by humans and, of these, about 30 percent die in illegal hunts.
In order to stop this poaching of the wolves the Salakaadot seis (Stop Poaching) was started. It is a campaign by the wolf action group within the Finnish nature activity and environmental protection organization Luonto-Liitto (Finnish Nature League).
Launched in 2008, the aim of the campaign is to fight the poaching of wolves and other large carnivores. The campaign takes a stand for a vital wolf population, and its main message is that the wolf is part of the Finnish nature and it is possible for wolves and people to co-exist in the same areas.
Please take a minute to fill out the fields below where you can send the following message to the Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Jari Koskinen. If you wish to write your own message to Minister Koskinen, you can send him an e-mail to the address jari.koskinen(at)mmm.fi.
The Finnish wolf population was hunted down in the 1920's out of hatred. Currently there are less than 200 wolves living in Finland which have mostly crossed the border from Russia which is home to around 30,000 wolves. The controversy and hatred towards wolves in Finland arises from the fact that Finland is a herding country of the iconic Reindeer. In much of Finland the reindeer hold a hallowed place in the country. Further north toward the Arctic Circle, Lapland is the supposed home of Santa Claus and his flying reindeer. Less sentimental however is the fact that Finns enjoy eating reindeer: fried, sautéed, smoked or cold. The wolves also will eat reindeer and this fact has only increased the hatred from the Finnish herders.
In 2001, Finland joined the European Union. Before Finnish law was amended in 2001 to meet EU standards, there were few restrictions on hunting of predators here. Now, every kill must be covered by a permit. Currently the ministry of Agriculture and Forestry grants around 30 permits a year. The European Commission insists that, under the European Habitats Directive, wolves have the right to be protected - whatever their "nationality" - when in EU territory. "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 Dimas.
This has not set well with some of the Finnish people who feel that the wolves are incringing on their livelihood as herders. Poaching of wolves has become a very common problem in Finland. Poaching is a very serious and large-scale form of hunting crime that should never be accepted, silently or otherwise.
According to Ilpo Kojola, senior research scientist at the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, mortality among wolves runs at about 20 percent a year. Nine out of 10 dead wolves are killed by humans and, of these, about 30 percent die in illegal hunts.
In order to stop this poaching of the wolves the Salakaadot seis (Stop Poaching) was started. It is a campaign by the wolf action group within the Finnish nature activity and environmental protection organization Luonto-Liitto (Finnish Nature League).
Launched in 2008, the aim of the campaign is to fight the poaching of wolves and other large carnivores. The campaign takes a stand for a vital wolf population, and its main message is that the wolf is part of the Finnish nature and it is possible for wolves and people to co-exist in the same areas.
Please take a minute to fill out the fields below where you can send the following message to the Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Jari Koskinen. If you wish to write your own message to Minister Koskinen, you can send him an e-mail to the address jari.koskinen(at)mmm.fi.
Dear Minister Koskinen
The wolf is a highly endangered species in Finland. The Finnish wolf population has almost halved from 2007 because of poaching, as also the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry recently admitted.
Because of the poaching problem, all wolf hunting licenses must be frozen. Hunting needs to be monitored more carefully and the police needs to take more decisive action to stop illegal hunting. Moreover, predator damage control and compensation practices need to be modified so that they promote tolerance towards large carnivores.
We need to act now in order to save the Finnish wolf population – there is no time to waste!
Kind regards
(your name)
(place of residence)
***★Please sign the Letter in the link below★***
Copyright Tambako the Jaguar
VIDEO Wolf in Finland
Wolves in Finland.magic night during the ruska autumn colour in the Finnish taiga forest.
Wolves everywhere deserve our protection. Magnificent creatures we share this earth with!
Such beautiful animals that were put here for us to protect and enjoy. Please respect our God given creatures now and always.
Tired of Ppl killing off what they don'tUndaerstand or just too ignorant to CARE!! We are all here for a reason, get with the program
We must STOP killing ALL og our wild and tame creatures, Man is killing all of natures beauty and wildlife, God created all of the earth, must man continue to destroy it? PLEASE STOP< let nayure live among us,We have taken the land that they need to live so they end up having to live among us and we kill. STOP!
We ALL need to care for the beautiful wildlife (wolves, et al) rather than allow them to be killed. Where will future generations SEE such beauty -- only in a cold page of a book or on a distorted film? PRESERVE all nature and wildlife--it is a cost you MUST afford and this cannot be measured in dollar signs. We MUST allow all of God's creatures to live cohabiting the world we also live on and in.
you kill you slay
manunkind,
go away:(
STOP the Killing of all Animals.
Anna K. Winters
Thought I was signing the petition! Whoops! But I found it. Wolves are highly intelligent and social animals. We can learn a lot from them. Anna K. Winters
is simply not our call 2 decide who s 2 live n who 2 die
Let the innocent wolves live as they were meant to................ FREELY
Just because we're human, alot of them think that gives them the right to kill off any animal that they consider a problem and doesn't want to share the land that the wolf inhabited before we did. Please stp the poaching of these magnificent creatures.
Unless you are an active herder, it's none of your business! You don't have a dog in this fight as you're yuppies that are separated from nature. You're all hypocrites that eat meat, wear leather jackets and shoes and use machinery lubricated with animal-derived oils.