A Swedish news agency SVT has reached new heights in dumbing down its audience with information about Russian wolves attacking the northern provinces of Finland, Sweden, and Norway since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. But fortunately, this information appears to be inaccurate, and the average subject of the Swedish crown can breathe a sigh of relief.
Since the Ukraine conflict began, more and more wolves have migrated into Finland and Norway.
In a short time, three wolf observations have been made in Norrbotten.
“If there is an increased population in Finland, there is the possibility for more wolves to migrate over to the Swedish side as well,” says Anna Danell Savela, predator officer at the Norrbotten County Administrative Board.
Since 2022, an increased number of Russian wolves have been seen migrating into the Nordic countries. In Finland in particular, but also in Norway, an increase in Russian wolves has been seen.
“The conclusions that have been drawn so far are that the increase has occurred after the Ukraine conflict began and that wolves are not hunted in the same way on the Russian side,” says predator officer Anna Danell Savela.
Seeing No Trend
Over the past two years, the County Administrative Board in Norrbotten has not been able to see any clear change in the Swedish statistics on the number of wolf individuals.
“We do not see any trend in the data that we have, where we have determined individuals. It also remains to be seen now when winter comes. But in the past two years, we have not seen any trend, so the variation is still within the range that we have had.”
Counteracts Inbreeding
During the autumn, three different male wolves have been seen in different places in Norrbotten. The Swedish wolf population needs individuals with Finnish-Russian genes to counteract inbreeding, at the same time the wolf causes great damage in reindeer herding areas.
“Among the three individuals we have documented in Norrbotten this year, there are two Scandinavian and one Finnish-Russian male wolf,” says Anna Danell Savela.
Source: SVT (in Swedish)