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Hunters’ attitudes matter: diverging bear and wolf population trajectories in Finland in the late nineteenth century and today

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Abstract

During the last 140 years, the trajectories of Finnish bear and wolf populations have twice diverged. The first such divergence occurred during 1875–1915; wolf abundance plummeted within a decade, while bears decreased steadily over 40 years. The second divergence began in the 1990s, coinciding with the introduction of total protection of both species. Within 20 years, the bear population grew fourfold, while the wolf remained low. These patterns can be accounted for in terms of both historical and contemporary stakeholder attitudes. Data from periodicals published during 1881–1923 show a significant difference in that respect: the scenario of the extinction of the bear was seen as entirely unacceptable, while that of the wolf was clearly an objective worth pursuing. Nationwide studies carried out during the second divergence show that attitudes toward the bear are significantly more positive than those toward the wolf. Increased bear numbers re-opened sustainable harvesting of this valued game. The wolf, in contrast, has been treated rather as a pest than as a valuable quarry, and in spite of total protection, the illegal killing has kept its population low. Recent wolf population changes synchronize with policy adjustments suggesting that legal harvest might reduce the urge to undertake unlawful acts, but regulated hunting has probably been allowed in too short and erratic periods to test its real conservation potential. Rural people and hunters are salient wildlife management stakeholders in circumstances where they have to share their territory with conflict-prone species. These groups have the intrinsic power to implement forms of grassroots-level management that can sometimes override official top-down policy decisions.

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Notes

  1. In 2016, only post-hunting population estimate was made, and there the minimum was 200; the mentioned pre-hunting ~ 240 wolves for 2016 is the sum of the post-hunting estimate and the annual bag of 43 wolves.

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Acknowledgments

We want to express our special thanks to Dr. Jukka Bisi for collecting the original attitude data for the later part of our study period. This research was funded by the Satakunta Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the “Olga ja Vilho Linnamon Säätiö” for Sakari Mykrä and by the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation for Mari Pohja-Mykrä. Constructive comments by two anonymous referees improved our work significantly.

Funding

During the preparation of this and related manuscripts, the corresponding author Sakari Mykrä was funded by the Satakunta Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and by the Olga ja Vilho Linnamon Säätiö. Sakari Mykrä presented some highly preliminary results of this work at a wildlife management conference held in Estes Park, Colorado, USA in October 2014. The related travel costs and conference fee were partly funded by the University of Turku Foundation. During the preparation of this manuscript, the work of the second author Mari Pohja-Mykrä was funded by the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation. All the above-mentioned funding bodies are neutral and non-commercial actors, funding scientific research in general or research on environmental and life sciences in particular. The third author Timo Vuorisalo works as a full-time lecturer and adjunct professor of Environmental Science at the University of Turku.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Turku, FI-20014, Turku, Finland

    Sakari Mykrä & Timo Vuorisalo

  2. Laviantie 19, FI-29600, Noormarkku, Finland

    Sakari Mykrä

  3. Ruralia Institute, University of Helsinki, Kampusranta 9 C, FI-60320, Seinäjoki, Finland

    Mari Pohja-Mykrä

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  1. Sakari Mykrä
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Mykrä, S., Pohja-Mykrä, M. & Vuorisalo, T. Hunters’ attitudes matter: diverging bear and wolf population trajectories in Finland in the late nineteenth century and today. Eur J Wildl Res 63, 76 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-017-1134-1

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