Norwegians really love shooting wolves, apparently.
Hunters in Norway have been figuratively queueing up to kill them, with a massive 11,571 people registering to get a licence to shoot only 16 animals – which is a ratio of 723 hunters to a wolf, The Guardian reported.
It’s thought there may only be 30 living wolves left in the wild in Norway, but that hasn’t stopped hunters from wanting to decrease the number further.
According to the country’s hunter register the brown bear is the second most sought-after animal, with 10,930 registered licence holders to hunt 18 bears. Wolverines are also popular – to kill, not preserve – and there are 10,820 licence holders looking to kill a total of 141 wolverines.
The neighbouring Scandinavian countries and Russia take a slightly more sympathetic approach to sustaining the fragile wolf population – any animal that crosses the border has inadvertently done itself a massive favour.
Incredibly, neither the wolf or bear populations are at a level the Norwegian government would be happy with, but they keep on handing out hunting licences under the pretence on protecting livestock.
Petter Wabakken, an acclaimed wolf expert, thinks the wolf population is also being kept down by illegal hunting of their dwindling numbers.
