Norway is moving to allow recreational hunting of its “critically endangered” population of wolves, prompting furious condemnation from animal rights campaigners.
Around 65 of the animals live in the Scandanavian country and another 25 cross the border from Sweden.
Last year the government announced up to 47 could be killed by hunters, but that quota was lowered to just 15 two days before hunting season opened.
Now the right-wing minority government is set to approve a new amendment in the favour of hunters, allowing “recreational and cultural” killings of the creatures, according to Media.
Until now, only predators considered a “potential nuisance” to farmers could be exterminated.
There are nine packs which spend all or part of their time in Norway, but the government’s targets call for just four to six, prompting criticism from animal rights groups like the Worldwide Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Conservation Fund and the Norwegian Zoological Fund.
“Changing the law to shoot more endangered animals is outrageous, especially in the so-called eco nation Norway,” said Nina Jensen, the head of the WWF in Norway.
Wolves are listed as “critically endangered” on the 2015 Norwegian list of endangered animals.
Farmers, hunters and forest owners have always held the right to kill animals they consider a nuisance, putting them on a collision course with green activists and large swathes of the population.
The new measure is currently up for consideration in the Norwegian parliament, but is unlikely to meet with much opposition, according to The Local.
The wolf currently accounts for eight per cent of the 20,000 sheep Norway’s farmers lose to predators each year.
Until the mid-19th century, large populations of brown bears, wolverines, wolves and lynxes prowled the Norweigian tundra. By the 1960s, though, wolves had been hunted to effective extinction, and bears almost followed.
But they were protected by law in 1971 and 1973 respectively, and numbers have been crawling back up thanks to Finnish-Russian wolves roaming into Norwegian territory.
There are 430 wolves across the whole of Scandinavia, up from fewer than 10 in the 1990s. They remain under threat from loss of habitat and poachers.Illegal hunting is the largest cause of wolf mortality in the region.
(independent)
Bringing together ministerial representatives from 70 delegations, including from the EU and the region but also the wider international community, the United Nations, major donors and civil society, humanitarian and development organisations, the conference will address the situation in Syria and the impact of the crisis in the region. The conference will assess where the international community stands collectively in fulfilling commitments made at the London Conference in February 2016 and agree on additional efforts needed to meet the needs of those affected by the crisis. It will reconfirm existing pledges and identify additional support to Syrians in need inside Syria and in neighbouring countries, as well as to the respective host communities, in response to the UN coordinated appeals.
Divers have uncovered a vital missing component of the helicopter involved in a fatal crash off Norway last year that will provide a further clue for investigators looking into the cause of the accident.
Norway’s new powerhouse for artificial intelligence (AI) opens in Trondheim today. The new centre, Telenor-NTNU AI-Lab, will strengthen national competitiveness and add valuable, future-proof competencies to the Norwegian society.
An Australian man managed to secure a “great timing” to propose to his significant other: under the majestic and eye-catching Northern Lights.
In response to the Norwegian Government Pension Fund’s new “Responsible Investment” Report, NGOs warn that the divestment of many coal companies is still overdue. In 2015, the Norwegian Parliament directed the Pension Fund’s manager, Norges Bank, to divest companies that “base 30% or more of their activities on coal” by the end of 2016.
The head of Norway’s biggest business university has decried the lack of government focus on attracting international students, warning that the nation is already “far behind” other European countries.
A Norwegian friend of Armenia, presented his Norwegian language book, a love confession to Armenia and Armenians, to an excited audience in Oslo today, the Armenian Cultural Association of Norway reports.
A SPECIAL guest joined the Royal Marines’ cold weather training sessions in Norway last week as Rugby MP Mark Pawsey braved the arctic conditions.
Norway has given the green light for the world’s first ship tunnel so that cruise liners and other boats can make a shortcut through the fjords.
An Air India Boeing 777-300ER flying from Bombay to New York made an emergency landing at Bodo, Norway airport here after a sick passenger requested medical emergencies mid-air.
Norwegian police should be allowed to check mobile phones and other devices owned by asylum seekers’ so officers can vet possible security threats and clarify applicants’ identities, under a new proposal put forward by the government Friday.
A Norwegian news website is forcing readers to take a quiz about the contents of an article before they are able to comment on it, in an attempt to stop abuse and vicious arguments breaking out below stories.
A new report by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C. shows that Norwegian companies, U.S. exports to Norway and Norwegian investments create nearly half a million jobs in the United States. The jobs are found in all 50 states and span a range of economic sectors.
Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, started investing in Sri Lanka in 2015. The fund has more than doubled its investment in Sri Lanka by end of 2016, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo said in a release.
As one of the largest sovereign funds, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global has received global attention, and Norway has been put on the map as an international investor. The Fund is not only distinguished by its sheer size, but also by how it is administrated. NBIM conducts what they call responsible investments, meaning that all investments must be ethically justifiable. Firms that are deemed unethical by the fund’s Council of Ethics are excluded from the fund.
Former Norwegian Ambassador to Riyadh said Saudi Arabia is involved in Financing the ISIL terror group and described the Middle Eastern country as the kingdom of terrorism.
Eight Norwegian child welfare cases have been heard by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg over the past 15 months in what a long-time human rights lawyer has called “an extremely serious warning to Norway”.
The King´s Choice (Norwegian: Kongens Nei) screened in Taiwan this week. The film is an Irish-Norwegian co-production about German Nazi troops invading Norway on April 9th 1940 forcing Norway into World War II and five years with terror. The Nazis wanted King Haakon to surrender to save Norwegian lives. The king had in 1905 as Danish prince agreed to become king of Norway and had chosen the motto Everything for Norway. So he told his government he would rather abdicate then surrender to the Nazis. He was forced to make a choice that ultimately affected the future of his country.
Last year King Haakon´s grandson King Harald of Norway celebrated his 25 years anniversary on the throne. To days before the movie was to be shown on Norwegian cinemas in September 2016, he invited the public to watch the movie for free together with him and his family outdoor in the park of the Royal Palace. The surroundings in the chilly and drizzly weather were excellent for the 10-12000 spectators as 
At the start of the millennium, Britain, France and Norway got together to develop a world-class system that could rescue personnel trapped in a submarine hundreds of metres below the surface.
Jon Georg Dale, Minister of Agriculture and Food in Norway, met with the Chinese Ambassador to Norway, Wang Min, on 21 February 2017, to discuss opportunities for a collaboration in agriculture and food.