Scandinavia and the World
Scandinavia and the World
Big Bad Wolf satwcomic.com

Big Bad Wolf


We just got our first wolf family in Denmark in 200 years, and the first thing some politicians want to do is kill them.

Sweden Denmark Norway
14th July 2017
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7 years ago #9658996        
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Many decades ago, wolves were seen killing the deer in Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona & Nevada). People fretted and said, "Poor deer! We must save them from big, bad wolves." After all the wolves were then removed/killed, the deer population promptly exploded and then stripped the Grand Canyon of much of it's greenery, then the deer starved to death due to a lack of a natural predator controlling the local population. The Grand Canyon STILL has not recovered to its former vegetation state before man interfered. And in Yellowstone National Park, up in Wyoming, they have reintroduced wolves and the forest is growing and recovering much faster because they wolves control the elk population, which was eating young tree saplings, slowing forest recovering from a major forest fire a few decades ago.

I bet with the introduction of wolves, you'll have more forest regrowth, and more control over rabbit and rat populations.


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Amalyte

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7 years ago #9658970        
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Just to make a note here: the politicians have discussed *regulating* the wolves, not killing them all off.
In my mind, this means deciding how many wolves to allow in the Danish nature, how and when to regulate them, and how and when to act when they start posing threat to our "forest kindergardens" and domestic animals like sheep and other "ecological" or free-range lifestock.

Deciding how to regulate them now is just an attempt of due diligence - not speciocide.
This drama is merely an example of media creating a new sensation out of nothing. Someone says "ok, now we have wolves here, be better figure out how many we should allow before it becomes a problem", and then someone else says "OMG, you're gonna kill all of them, you bastard".

That being said, I understand the notion of fear for this animal. The most dangerous and lethal wild life animal we've had in our nature for decades is the tick. We're used to be able to let kids and pets be (mostly) free in the open without any need for worry. And when i see people interviewed who are against regulation of the wolves, they live in large cities like Copenhagen. Far, far away from the forests in Jutland where the wolves are. I'd like to see two things:
1: people in southern Jutland who are happy for the return of the wolves
2: capture of wolves, setting them free in the backyard of con-regulation people, and then hear if they still think they shouldn't be regulated. Then i'd care more about what they have to say.


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7 years ago #9659077        
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It can be a difficult subject to decide on. Denmark isn't as big as Germany, Sweden and Norway, so some people are scared that wolves will get to close to areas populated by humans.
Then there's the farmers who have very legit concerns that wolves will attack their animals. It has already happend with some attacks on sheep. This is an issue that needs to be fixed if there is to be any hope of the wolves being allowed to remain in the country (After all, it was the reason they were driven to extinction before).
The whole 'Wolves will kill our babies!' is, however, a stupid argument. Wolves are shit scared of humans so they won't run over and eat your baby - unless you let your 8 year old child walk all alone in isolated areas. But honestly, then a wolf would be the least of your concerns! And being scared they'll kill your dog? Well, then don't let your dog off the leash! You're already not allowed to do that in most of the wooded areas in Denmark! Just follow the damn rules and the wolf won't come over and eat your dog.


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7 years ago #9753236        
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When the wolf first came, I was really exited. I am very fascinated by wolves, and liked the idea of a little more 'wildness' in Danish nature. I do live in a big city. However, my perception have changed, seeing how they actually interact.

The problem is that Denmark is a small country, with very little space. Therefore, wolves come relatively close to some populated areas. The problem with this is, when they live so close to humans, they loose their natural fear of them. There are school children (age 12 for example) who have experienced being followed when walking to the bus-stop. Families, who do have fences that should be 'wolf safe' have had a wolf get into their back yard anyways, sometimes killing/injuring their dog.

In nature, predators will usually only kill what they eat. But since lifestock in Denmark are fenced in, once the wolf enters, they can't escape. It have been seen that the wolf kills several sheep at a time, because it is easier than it would be for wild prey.

This is not a question about farmers finding it cheaper/easier to just kill off the wolves. This is a question of people fearing for their own, and their childrens, safety. If there are no option to regulate them, they have access to unlimited prey, higher survival rate, and no natural enemies. Once they discover that humans are easy to prey on, we will have a bigger problem. And it will probably be children paying the price.

As much as I love the wolves, there are a different problem with it in Denmark.


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7 years ago #9660096        
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Sadly, Norwegians are just as bad on this front. Sheep farmers here can't be bothered to hire shepherds or actually watch over their sheep, so instead they just shove their sheep off into the forest for a few weeks and expect the wolves to just behave and not attack the easy food source. Also, everytime a sheep dies they seem to blame wolves, even though they've only been able to prove the sheep were killed by wolves around 5% of the time, the rest of the cases were accidents, diseases and other wild predators such as lynxes and bears. They treat wolves like a convenient scapegoat. If these guys had their way, our entire country would just be one giant baby-proofed park with all wild animals extinct.


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MiskisM

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7 years ago #9659476        
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It is usually big citie's people who defend wolves. Yeah, meat grows on trees or maybe in markets. I wonder what would they say if they couldnt get their hamburger or if the meat price skyrocketed...


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7 years ago #9659008        
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Perhaps the Danes should build a wall against the wolves and make them pay for it?


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7 years ago #9658890        
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@SydneyCarton #9658865
Yeah, like the purity of the white race or European culture.

BellaU2

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7 years ago #9661055        
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There is a fascinating study in the link below about the wolves and how they corrected the Ecosystem in Yellowstone National Park after they were reintroduced. So much, that it changed the flow of rivers because the vegetation was allowed to grow back once the deer and elk populations were culled by the wolf packs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q

Unfortunately - Now with our current government we have idiots who want to be able to kill bear and wolf families in their dens during hibernation - cause that's going to be enable all the big bad hunters to experience the thrill of the hunt - Fidiots! :-(


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7 years ago #9659768        
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At least we know who has won in https://satwcomic.com/happy-friendly-animals

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