Swedish king pro-wolf killing

This video is called Winter Wolf Tracking in Sweden.

(What is called an “elk” in Europe is a “moose” in America. An American “elk” is closely related to European “red deer“.)

From Wildlife Extra:

WWF President number 2 – Let’s kill more wolves because we want to kill the elk

WWF beginning to look careless – 1 president/king hunter could be a mistake – 2 looks very careless – How many more are there?

April 2012. WWF has many presidents, but some of their choices are beginning to look questionable. Although, as an organisation they do not oppose all hunting, or even trophy hunting, (UK WWF president Prince Charles and ex-President Prince Phillip are known for their love of shooting), WWF Sweden do strongly oppose hunting wolves in Sweden. However their president, King Gustaf,

Carl XVI Gustaf

wants to “cull the wolf population“.

Wolves kill elk – But King Gustaf wants to kill the elk so he wants to get rid of wolves

And why does he want to do that? Because every year the good king runs an elk hunt in Sweden, along with his son Prince Carl Philip. Despite the fact that some 100,000 elk are shot every autumn in Sweden out of an estimated population of 3-400,000, King Gustaf believes that the presence of 200 wolves might spoil his annual hunt, so has been advocating the culling of as many wolves as possible. Yet to hunt the elk, he himself uses hunting dogs.

Hunting with dogs

According to the Swedish Royal Court, in 2011, “On Wednesday 2 November, The King and Prince Carl Philip took part in the traditional royal elk hunt in Halleberg and Hunneberg.

The hunt was a so-called free-ranging dog hunt, and two elks were caught during the day. Three hunting teams took part, with three huntsmen, a hunt leader and two dog handlers in each team.”

WWF Sweden statement:

“The Wolf Hunt in Sweden

The Swedish Government approved 27 wolves to be culled in a license hunt in early 2010. In total 28 were killed. A new license hunt has now been approved with a start 15 January 2011, this time 20 wolves are allowed to be shot. WWF Sweden has protested strongly against the decimation hunt as it is not in accordance with the EU legal regulations (Habitat and Species Directive) and the Swedish subpopulation is highly vulnerable due to inbreeding.”

Prince Carl Philip

Interestingly, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) are currently touting their World Conservation Congress, to be held in Korea in September. Amongst the many ‘VIPs’ they list as attending the conference, is Prince Carl Philip. The IUCN prince was recently appointed an IUCN ‘Patron of Nature’.

According to IUCN “During his welcoming ceremony at IUCN’s Swiss headquarters, the Prince said that he is delighted to be working with IUCN and looks forward to doing “great things” for nature.

Patrons of Nature play a key role in advising IUCN’s top management on a wide range of strategic issues related to IUCN’s work, as well as help us raise our visibility and reach out to decision makers.”

It is working then – It has provided them with some coverage on Wildlife Extra.

Snapshot of WWF Sweden website – Stating that king Gustav is president, whilst (on the right) ‘protesting strongly’ about the wolf hunt – That King Gustaf wanted to expand

Also from Wildlife Extra:

Was canid shot in New Brunswick first wolf for 150 years?

April 2012. On April 6th a licensed varmint hunter in New Brunswick, in Caraquet, ‘harvested’ (Why do they always use these euphemisms? They mean shot) what he believed to be a large coyote. The animal weighed 66-88 pounds. Due to the relatively large size of the animal, there is some speculation that it may be something other than an eastern coyote. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has collected a piece of tissue from the animal for DNA analysis to determine its species genetic profile, the results should be available in 4 months.

Swedish crown princess and WWF: here. And here.

In the Westerwald forest in West Germany, a 71-year-old hunter has killed the first wolf seen in the area since over 120 years.

Have wolves returned to Arctic Canada? Here.