'@Niobesnuppa' for farmer ecosystem is irrelevant if he has no income.
"Also, this is Norway, these farmers aren't poor. They actually get a ton of money from the government, they could easily afford to hire shepherds."
Given average wage in Norway and poor returns from sheep farming in other countries I'd like to see some proper estimates. One farm hand in Norway would cost more than income from 100+ sheep per year in Ireland. Electric fence would have a significant up-front cost, especially on uneven ground and I'm not sure it would be legal since barbed wire is already prohibited. For areas with large animals like bear or moose, cheap options like wire mesh or wooden fence is impractical. Also not resistant to digging under the obstacle. Any measure that uses fear as deterrent is dependent on wolves not learning and animals not leaving the herd at any time. I wouldn't bet on that working well or long enough.
"There's a very easy solution here"
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong"
Proper Coasian approach would be for those who are interested in preservation of wolves to pay for building and maintaining electric fences for anyone willing to have one and living in proximity of wolves, maybe along with effort at monitoring animals to prevent people from hunting them "just because". Of course that's unlikely because virtue signaling and demanding further regulation of farmers (to a point of complete prohibition or impracticality of non-factory farming), hunting and fences is cheaper and easier.
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'@Niobesnuppa' for farmer ecosystem is irrelevant if he has no income.
"Also, this is Norway, these farmers aren't poor. They actually get a ton of money from the government, they could easily afford to hire shepherds."
Given average wage in Norway and poor returns from sheep farming in other countries I'd like to see some proper estimates. One farm hand in Norway would cost more than income from 100+ sheep per year in Ireland. Electric fence would have a significant up-front cost, especially on uneven ground and I'm not sure it would be legal since barbed wire is already prohibited. For areas with large animals like bear or moose, cheap options like wire mesh or wooden fence is impractical. Also not resistant to digging under the obstacle. Any measure that uses fear as deterrent is dependent on wolves not learning and animals not leaving the herd at any time. I wouldn't bet on that working well or long enough.
"There's a very easy solution here"
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong"
Proper Coasian approach would be for those who are interested in preservation of wolves to pay for building and maintaining electric fences for anyone willing to have one and living in proximity of wolves, maybe along with effort at monitoring animals to prevent people from hunting them "just because". Of course that's unlikely because virtue signaling and demanding further regulation of farmers (to a point of complete prohibition or impracticality of non-factory farming), hunting and fences is cheaper and easier.