Many different authorities, organisations and ordinary citizens interested in large carnivores participate in the conservation and management of predator populations. Well defined and planned hunting of large carnivores forms a part of successful population management and conservation efforts.
During the past few decades, large carnivores have been the subject of repeating and multifaceted debates. There have been significant disagreements between people representing different interests, values and attitudes about large carnivores, especially the wolf, but the lynx and the bear have also become widely discussed in recent years. These discussions are taking place in the context of people beginning to perceive large carnivores as endangered animals.
Wolverine, photo Kimmo Pöri
The social status of large carnivores and the meanings connected to these animals are in the process of being redefined. At the same time, damages caused by large carnivores are also becoming more frequent as their populations grow in western Finland and they spread to populous rural areas. Traditional dichotomies – human-animal, rural-urban and reason-emotion – create tensions in the discourse. The social questions concerning large carnivores are not just about the numbers of the animals, their behaviour, location or ecology, but they also involve a multitude of social, socio-political, cultural and ethical aspects. Sociological research is one of the tools that help us unravel these social and cultural tensions.
Indeed, sociological research relating to large carnivores has been on the rise in Finland for the last decade. Universities and research centres, such as the National Resources Institute Finland, conduct a wide variety of carnivore-related research projects and theses from the perspectives of different scientific disciplines and using different research approaches and methodologies. This research helps to answer such questions as how the perceptions of large carnivores change in cultural and societal contexts, how can the related conflicts be managed and how the authorities and the research community should react to these challenges.
Finland is bound by both national and international agreements to maintain healthy predator populations.
Large carnivores are protected under the Finnish Hunting Act. They may only be hunted in limited numbers with exceptional permits.
The views held by Finns are sometimes conflicting when it comes to the population management and conservation of large carnivores. Research has been conducted on how Finns think our large carnivore populations should be managed. This data has been collected via surveys, interviews and public meeting...
Attitudes towards predators have always varied by species. The wise bear has been respected throughout the ages while people have rarely had anything good to say about the cruel wolf. Even though the world has changed, these ancient attitudes are still present in people's minds today.
For the first time, Metsähallitus wilderness supervision has monitored the results of its work in real time throughout the year. The new system reveals that 368 people violated the law while in nature, and 169 people were caught without necessary permits.