tor 12 jan 2023, 10:29#788241
Eftersom jag inte litar på Google translates förmåga att översätta från Italienska till Svenska så blir det till engelska:
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Hunting wolves in Sweden is a political issue
According to the experts "In the case of Sweden, more than an ecological question of overnumbering, it is a political question due to strong pressure from the hunting category."
The wolf hunting season began in Sweden on Monday 2 January, the Swedish Parliament has decided that over the next month hunters will be able to kill 75 wolves out of a population of 460 specimens.
In the countries of the Scandinavian peninsula, the killing of wolves is allowed, according to the country's policy, it is necessary to keep the wolf population below a fixed number to protect the safety of citizens. As Gunnar Glöersen, manager of predators at the Swedish Hunters' Association, told the local press at the opening to hunting these days, "Hunting is absolutely necessary to slow down the growth of wolves. The wolf pack is the largest we have had in modern times."
Since in other countries, such as Italy, wolf hunting is instead prohibited, despite the fact that there are currently a much greater number than in Sweden (more than 3000 specimens), we tried to understand the mechanisms underlying the Swedish decision together with Claudio Delfoco, naturalist and expert on the species.
First, what subspecies of wolf is found in Sweden? Is it a subspecies considered endangered?
«In Sweden the wolf is present with the subspecies Canis lupus lupus, commonly known as the Eurasian wolf. In Europe, at the community level, regardless of the subspecies, the wolf is a species protected by community conventions and directives (Berne Convention, Habitat Community Directive 43/92, CITIES).
«Speaking of "too numerous" is conceptually wrong. The wolf, as well as other predators, is able to "autonomously regulate its numbers" in an area in relation to the availability of food resources and suitable habitats available. In the case of Sweden, more than an ecological question of overnumbering, it is a political question due to strong pressure from the hunting category. Also because surveys and interviews have shown that the wolf is well seen by most people. In fact, in Sweden there is a widespread misconception among hunters that wolves disproportionately decrease the number of moose (leaving fewer to hunt). In addition, several cases of predation on hunters' dogs used for bear and moose hunting have been recorded over the years. In this case, the strong pressures received have probably overridden the Community directives for the protection of this species.
In Italy there are 3000 specimens, how is the wolf population managed here?
«In Italy the wolf is protected, as well as by EU directives, by state laws such as the Natali Decree of 1971 which prohibits hunting, by the Marcora Decree of 1976 which made the wolf a fully protected species and by other decrees such as law 157/ 92 which inserts the wolf among the particularly protected species and the Law 157/97 which inserts the wolf among the species of Community interest which require rigorous protection for example. As for the number of individuals in our area and the management of the same, there are not too many as there are numerous monitoring programs, management of the species and prevention of wolf damage, as well as dissemination and awareness programs on possible coexistence.
In addition to this massive hunting expedition, the Swedish Parliament wants to further reduce the number of wolves, guaranteeing the presence of only 170 specimens. Seventeen scientists have published a letter in the journal Science expressing their concerns about the decline in the number of wolves in the Scandinavian peninsula. “This action further threatens this already highly endangered population, which is genetically isolated and inbred” – they explain in the letter of appeal – “All authors are deeply concerned by the Swedish Parliament's desire to halve the size of the wolf population. The wolf population is, and has been known for some time, in a very difficult genetic situation. The Swedish wolf population is genetically isolated and highly inbred. The current population was founded by just three individuals in the 1980s and has been genetically isolated for decades. In recent years, only three genetically distinct individuals have managed to reproduce and spread genes that still remain in the population. The result is a population that has a very small gene pool, resulting in a level of inbreeding that is on average as high as that achieved when brothers and sisters mate with each other (an inbreeding rate of about 0.25).”
What does a difficult genetic situation entail for the species?
“The main risk of having such a small population is the collapse of the population itself with the extinction of the wolf at a local level. A small number of individuals, in fact, can lead to inbreeding and a bottleneck, with the consequence that the genetic makeup of the wolf population is not significant and completely eliminates some alleles or fixes other deleterious ones in the gene pool. Nonetheless, it has been noted that the elimination of one or more members of a herd destabilizes it, with the possibility that the remaining individuals turn their attention towards more accessible food sources such as domestic livestock rather than towards prey. wild as usual, negatively influencing public opinion.
The same scientists stated that: “For a good conservation situation with the possibility of long-term survival, the value of the genetically effective size of the cohesive population must amount to at least 500, which in practice means at least 2000 individuals”. With this type of management, is the species destined to become extinct?
«The risk of population collapse and consequent extinction at the local level is concrete, even if not immediately. Although Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, the Swedish population is isolated from its neighbors and a further decrease in the gene pool could be fatal.
As reported by the Guardian, Marie Stegard, president of the anti-hunting group Jaktkritikerna, also stated that “There is a large majority of Swedes who like wolves, even where they live. In our view, the reason for these hunts is simply that there is a demand for shooting wolves among hunters. Hunter organizations have enormous power in Sweden. As a matter of fact, the Swedish parliament has a hunting club open to members of all parties, with a shooting gallery below the parliament. Sounds like a joke, but it's absolutely true."
Hunting is a political issue in Sweden that shakes hands with the category of hunters even in times in which the importance of protecting biodiversity is a declared and widespread fact. That of killing through hunting is not a practice that is limited only to the wolf, but also concerns the population of lynx and bear. In a part of Europe often portrayed as being at the forefront of ecological and environmental issues, some practices die hard despite being clearly pro-extinction.
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