Open letter to Norwegian embassy against killing of wolves
15.11.2016, Carnivores.cz
Friends of the Earth Czech republic (Hnuti DUHA) oppose the planned shooting of wolves in Norway. Yesterday, together with the environmental organization Prales dětem, we handed over a letter to Norwegian Embassy in the Czech Republic. Several tens of people joined us in Prague to show their support.
Your Excellency,
We are writing to you to express our deep concern about the practice that has been continuing in Norway for past several years. We refer to the decision of the Norwegian Parliament to cull two thirds of Norway’s estimated grey wolf population.
We respect democratic processes of the Kingdom of Norway, however, any hunting of endangered species, specially protected predators in particular, must be considered within the wider context of the European law, scientific knowledge, and our shared moral values.
Norway is among the signatories of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats signed on the 19th September 1979 in Bern and ratified by Norway one year later. The Berne Convention does not state explicitly to what extent wolves should be protected and how many animals may be culled. Nevertheless, it formulates visions and ideas on nature conservation with a special focus on the most vulnerable species; the protection of such species often requiring cooperation between neighbouring countries.
The spirit of the Berne Convention is probably best captured by its preamble which states that the signatories recognize that wild flora and fauna constitute a natural heritage of aesthetic, scientific, cultural, recreational, economic and intrinsic value that needs to be preserved and handed on to future generations, as well as the essential role played by wild flora and fauna in maintaining biological balances. The signatories to the convention are further aware that numerous species of wild flora and fauna are being seriously depleted and that some of them are threatened with extinction and agree that the conservation of wild flora and fauna should be taken into consideration by the governments in their national goals and programmes.
In 1979, wolves were practically extinct in Scandinavia, with no record of reproduction for 15 years. Thanks to the all-year-round protection, they returned to Sweden and Norway in the early 1980s.
Almost forty years since the signing of the Berne Convention, we witness a remarkable ability of the large carnivores to recover throughout Europe. The year-round protection of wolves is one of the main reasons they are now reclaiming their former territories in Western Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. All the more surprising is the fact that Norway, which many of us see as a model of advanced European culture due to its uniquely preserved natural environment, responsibility, and humanistic tradition, should be waging a holy war against critically endangered carnivores as if our thinking and our knowledge have not progressed at all since the Dark Ages.
No more than three wolf packs are allowed in Norway and they may only live in the area comprising mere 1% of the country. We regard such extremely low population goals as a sign of a moral failure of the Norwegian political representation; the decision supports the separation of people and wildlife rather than their coexistence which is a successful model observed virtually everywhere in Europe [1]. We have never possessed greater knowledge of the ecology of grey wolves, their social life and their role as the apex predators shaping the environment [2] – a role we are just starting to appreciate. We know now that the total number of damages to livestock caused by wolves represents less than 1% of all the free-ranging domestic animals [3]. We also know that hunting the wolves provides only a very weak protection against attacks on livestock; in fact, it often exacerbates the problem [4]. Knowledge like this allows us to make the right decisions and adopt goals which the Bern Convention helped define forty years ago.
We firmly believe that populist decisions setting the near to zero tolerance of wolves will not be imitated by other parties to the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. Norwegian efforts to eradicate the species instead of protecting it appear to be based on an isolated interpretation which violates the fundamental principles of the European nature conservation. That is why we see it as a crucial step that the Norwegian political representation reconsiders its peculiar policies in respect of wolf conservation.
We would like to ask you, Your Excellency, on behalf of our many supporters to take our appeal to your government.
Sincerely,
Miroslav Kutal, Friends of the Earth Czech Republic (Hnutí DUHA)
Notes:
[1] Chapron G, Kaczensky P, Linnell JDC, Arx M von, Huber D, Andrén H, et al. Recovery of large carnivores in Europe’s modern human-dominated landscapes. Science (80- ). 2014;346: 1517–1519. doi:10.1126/science.1257553
[2] Estes J a, Terborgh J, Brashares JS, Power ME, Berger J, Bond WJ, et al. Trophic downgrading of planet Earth. Science (80- ). 2011;333: 301–6. doi:10.1126/science.1205106
[4] Treves A, Krofel M, Mcmanus J. Predator control should not be a shot in the dark. Front Ecol Environ. 2016;14: 380–388. doi:10.1002/fee.1312
