Norway greens try to halt wolf hunt

A hunter takes position in search of wolves in Imsdalen, Norway

OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -- Norwegian environmentalists are trying to halt a state-sanctioned hunt for nine wolves.

A 23-strong team of hunters has been trying to shoot the wolves in the forests of south-eastern Norway since Saturday under a permit from Norway's Directorate of Nature Management (DN).

The wolves are blamed for killing 612 sheep in eastern Norway last year.

The court, expected to reach a decision on Friday, has the power only to order a postponement of the hunt. But a delay could allow environmentalists to appeal to higher courts.

"The wolves have luckily not been killed so far, let us pray they are not killed while we are standing here in court," Nils Ihlen Ramm, lawyer for the environmentalists, told the Court of Enforcement in Oslo.

"These organisations have been forced to go to court in order to seek a temporary delay until appeals against the hunt have been properly dealt with," Ramm said.

The three plaintiffs -- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Friends of the Earth Norway and the Norway's Foreningen Vaare Rovdyr (Wildlife Union) -- have earlier appealed against DN's decision to kill the wolves. Those appeals were turned down by the Environment Ministry.

Death threats

Norway says wolf stocks are rising too rapidly and that there are 12 packs in south Scandinavia, or about 120 animals, above an initial goal of at least eight to 10 packs set in the mid-1990s as part of a policy of encouraging the predators.

The wolf cull has provoked much controversy in the country, and the hunters have received death threats.

Svein Norberg, spokesman of the Directorate of Nature Management which is overseeing the cull, said the threats were from someone saying the "hunters would die before the wolves."

When the hunt was announced, a national newspaper warned that Norway, already criticised for hunting whales and seals, would be seen abroad as a nation of "barbarians."

Swedish environmental officials have also expressed concern because they believe at least 200 wolves -- some researchers say 500 -- are needed to sustain the population.

Even the Swedish hunters' association criticised the hunt as "unseemly" because of plans to use snowmobiles and a helicopter, both banned in normal hunts.

But opinion polls have shown the majority of people in Norway -- a wealthy nation with a population of 4.5 million -- in favour.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Death threats for Norway wolf hunters
February 11, 2001
Norway wolf hunt goes ahead
February 10, 2001
Norway wolf hunt sparks anger
February 5, 2001

Norwegian Government
World Wildlife Fund

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