A JUDGE in Oslo has forbidden sheep farmers in southern Norway from shooting
a pair of wolves which are among the last in Scandinavia. Norway鈥檚 environmental
campaigners have hailed the judge鈥檚 verdict as an important reaffirmation of the
country鈥檚 commitment to protecting endangered species.
But the day after the ruling, a wolf from another pack was killed by a train.
Some people suspected that the wolf had been killed illegally, then dropped on
the train line to disguise the deed, says Tom Schandy of the World Wide Fund for
Nature in Oslo. Conspiracy theorists may be disappointed by the train driver鈥檚
statement that the death was an accident after the wolf ran onto the track.
The dead wolf was from a pack of nine animals which live east of the Glomma
River, about 150 kilometres south of Oslo. The pack is officially protected. But
when another mated pair formed a new pack by settling west of the river,
farmers鈥攚ho fear wolves may attack their sheep鈥攕ought permission to
kill them.
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However, Norway鈥檚 membership of the Bern Convention, as well as the
Convention on Biological Diversity, meant such action was illegal, says the WWF.
And it seems the courts have agreed.
