Breaking! Norway & Finland Suspend This Year’s Wolf Killings Sparing The Lives Of An Estimated 70 Wolves

Earlier this year, Norway, Finland, and Sweden had plans to cull wolves for so-called “population control,” prompting animal welfare organizations to call on the European Union to stop the slaughter.

While hunters in Sweden already killed most of the country’s annual target of 27 wolves, there was still time to save the lives of wolves in Norway and Finland.

Last week, Norway suspended the cull; sparing the lives of 51 of the estimated 80 wolves left in Norway, almost half of which are in a protected area called the “wolf zone.”

“It is with great relief and joy that the organizations received the ruling that the state is prohibited from initiating wolf hunting inside the wolf zone. The organizations went to a temporary injunction against the decision to shoot four flocks in the zone,” Siri Martinsen, of NOAH – for animal rights, said in a statement, further noting that they are pleased that the court recognizes what is at stake: the legal security of biodiversity. “The state should take this as an important signal that they should sharpen the caution in their management of endangered predators.”

As per NOAH, the part of the court’s decision to approve the killing of 25 wolves within the wolf zone, “must be considered invalid because of errors in the application of the law.”

“This is an incredibly important victory for the wolves and the diversity of nature as a whole. If NOAH and the other organizations had not gone for temporary extinction, then 25 critically endangered wolves would now have been shot because of an invalid decision,” said a statement on NOAH’s Facebook page. “We can’t have it like this in the time of natural crisis. It is very important that nonprofit organizations like NOAH are strong enough to challenge anti-nature decisions.”

Last week, Finland also halted plans to kill 20 wolves in four different territories, during what would have been the country’s first cull in seven years.

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