Wolf (Canis lupus)

Wolf kills reindeer around the year, in the areas where it moves. Most of the damages occur in the eastern reindeer husbandry area, where the wolves arriving from Russia cause problems. They take advantage of the border area.

Long-term coexistence of wolves and reindeer in the same area is impossible. Reindeer is a too easy catch for the wolf and the damages grow quickly to too large numbers. The amount of damages depends on how many special hunting permissions are given for the reindeer husbandry area. The damages can be kept in tolerable levels, if the decision making process and hunting work out well.

Exceptionally to the rest of the country, wolf is part of the Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, Annex V. This means that it can be hunted. From the protection perspective, it has been seen as an important factor that wolves can move over the Swedish border. This prohibits the inbred of Norwegian and Swedish population. Wandering wolves can move from Finland to Scandinavia as hunting is not possible when there is no snow. According to researches, there are enough wolves moving over the border to maintain favourable protection levels.

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