Although the gray wolf as a species is classifed as "Least Concern" by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), the Scandinavian wolf population is classified as 'Engdangered'.
Instead of killing wolves, we should be trapping them and redistributing them to help ensure genetic diversity in isolated populations like Scandinavia's.
European wolves routinely travel 60-80km a day for food, and since they are very social (pack oriented) hunters, a lone wolf (forced away from the pack, for what ever reason) can travel many hundreds of kilometers per week in search of other packs, new hunting grounds etc.
Meanwhile, Norway is full of hill farming in areas suitable for wolves.
I can talk about the livelihoods of people and families that have been decimated by the increase in the wolf population in Sweden, but instead I will say that many of these people would rather risk a jail sentence and hunt them themselves than try to convince the government to do anything about it.
> This is sad.
Agreed.
And i think farming did better until we started pumping oil, and the export of that drove the exchange rate out of whack.
The way I see it, it's morally equivalent to poaching. Sure, kill that animal if this is really the only way you can eat. Otherwise expect a big fine. And in a western industrialized country, it's generally the latter case.