Vinterns vargjakt är den första hittills i och på gränsen till den norska så kallade vargzonen, som sträcker sig längs gränsen mot Värmland. Zonen är det enda område i Norge där vargfamiljer med valpar tillåts leva.Totalt 16 djur fick skjutas i två vargflockar, men när de fällts visade det sig finnas fler vargar kvar i flockarna. Den norska regeringen beslutade då att utöka jakten i Hedmark med ytterligare tre djur, som nu fällts. Två av dem sköts i början av veckan från helikopter.

Source: Fler vargar skjutna i Hedmark | SVT Nyheter

The licensed hunt started on Tuesday.Campaigners had appealed to the highest administrative court in Sweden less than a week before the start of the hunt. The Supreme Administrative Court has not yet decided whether or not to grant them leave to appeal, but said it would not call off the hunt at the eleventh hour in the meantime.Eight wolves were shot on Tuesday, two of whom were found to have scabies, reports hunting magazine Svensk Jakt.

Source: Eight wolves shot on first day of Sweden’s hunt – The Local

Wolves in Norway are a hot-button issue, with the latest arguments related to whether or not the animals can be hunted or if they are protected by an international wildlife convention.But virtually no one disputes that the isolated population of 430 wolves in Scandinavia is highly inbred, descended from a handful of animals that arrived in the region in the 1980s and 1990s.

Source: Inbreeding in Scandinavian wolves is worse than we thought | ScienceNordic

“SJALDAN liggjandi ulfr laer um getr,” goes a passage in the Havamal, a medieval Norse poem: “The sleeping wolf seldom gets a ham.” The maxim, like the one about early birds and worms, is an exhortation against laziness, but it also conjures a vision of Norway as a land of untamed nature, where wolves chase boars through snow-bound forests. This may have been true in the 10th century, but today the country’s wild fauna are not doing as well. Wolves are rare, and the government is under pressure to cull them further. Another iconic species faces a different threat: chronic wasting disease (CWD), a sort of mad cow disease that can infect reindeer.

Source: Pining for better days in the fjords: Norway’s wolves are being hunted; its reindeer are going mad | The Economist

Support for Norway’s Conservative (Høyre) party, the largest party in the country’s coalition government, has dropped by seven points in some areas.The pole, carried out by InFact on behalf of broadcaster NRK along with a number of local newspapers, shows a swing away from the party in both Hedmark and Oppland counties.Høyre’s main parliamentary candidate for Hedmark County Kristian Tonning Riise told NRK that he believed the lost ground could be the result of a recent debate on control of wolves in Norway, in which a parliamentary proposal on wolf control was not supported by Høyre, resulting in the culling of 47 wolves being reduced to 15.

Source: Norwegian government could lose voters over wolves – The Local

On Friday, a Supreme Administrative Court announced plans to shoot 24 wolves could go ahead, despite massive protests it could lead to the extinction of the magnificent beasts in the Scandinavian country.Torbjorn Nilsson, the President of the Swedish Association predators, hit out against the ruling as he said the Swedish wolf population was already so low it could compromise its future in the wild. He said: “I think it’s an unfortunate and surprising decision.“It is unfortunate because the wolf population is still quite small, very inbred and too isolated. Therefore, one should not hunt in this way.”

Source: Outrage as Sweden’s majestic wolves set for culling after court ruling | Nature | News | Daily Express