Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf population

Re:Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf pop... by 2trill2spill on Saturday September 17, 2016 @10:03AM (#12520520)

It's amazing how low the wolf population is in Norway, 68 wolfs in the entire country! While here in Minnesota we have nearly 2,300 wolfs across 439 wolf packs mid winter 2016[1]. But that puts them only at 3.2 wolves per 100 km2 of occupied range[2]. That must make the wolf density and total range in Norway absurdly low, why would they "cull" the wolfs when there are so few.

Plus the wolfs are not really a problem here in Minnesota, a few people's pets have been killed, which sucks but thats all you really here about.

[1]: http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2016/08/22/minnesotas-wolf-popul...

[2]: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/wildlife/wolves/2015/survey_wol...

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Re:Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf pop... by marvin on Saturday September 17, 2016 @02:08PM (#12521625)

Most farmers in East Norway don't believe the official numbers on the wolf population, due to personal experiences with seeing wolves, and having animals killed by wolves.

I'm curious myself; I've heard separate stories of people in different regions seeing large packs of wolves (10-20 individuals) and also observing wolves crossing the road at night, etc. It would be nice to know more about how the official count as been made, because I'm skeptical that there are less than 70 wolves in the entire country. Large areas of Eastern Norway are largely uninhabited, and it doesn't really make sense that there are so many observations in populated areas.

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Re:Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf pop... by digi_owl on Saturday September 17, 2016 @02:23PM (#12521695)

Not sure if i can find the map right now. But i seem to recall seeing one showing the wolf related areas, and they were north and south-west of Oslo. Meaning that the wolf would potentially travel straight through the suburbs of Oslo.

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Re:Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf pop... by ObeyTheGuts on Saturday September 17, 2016 @12:27PM (#12521141)

dude norway has no forests, land is all steap mountains fragmented by fjords, only in southeast there is little suitable wolf land, nothing compared to minnesota.

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Re:Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf pop... by freekh on Saturday September 17, 2016 @01:04PM (#12521296)

I don't think you have been to Norway? A hundred years ago Norway was significant exporter of timber (and no: we didn't cut it all down). Related fun fact: the Christmas tree at traflgar square is donated by Oslo (the capital of Norway) though I think this is a token of gratitude for helping us out during WWII, it's not by coincidence that it's a tree.

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Re:Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf pop... by lobster_johnson on Saturday September 17, 2016 @05:25PM (#12522541)

38% of Norway (146,364 km2, or 56,509 square miles) is covered by forest and woodland.

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Re:Norway plans to cull more than two-thirds of its wolf pop... by ObeyTheGuts on Saturday September 17, 2016 @08:18PM (#12523238)

typical nerd, taking statistics and not real life. "forest/woodland" is not same thing everywhere - http://www.borealforest.org/world/images/norway_wilderness_l...

wolf relevant forest is tiny tiny tiny

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