Tuesday 28 February 2012

Wolves in Russia



The history of the wolf is closely linked to the political and social life in ex-USSR. Although this region has a high wolf population, it is estimated that the soviet government financed the elimination of more than 1.5 million wolves between 1925 and 1992. A bounty was given for each wolf killed. This system offered a supplement to those who could hunt: a single adult wolf could bring an extra month's pay!

At present in Russia, there is no real program to control wolves and it is now the responsibility of the regional administrations to manage their wolf population. However the wolf is still considered vermin: it is not protected by any law and its hunting is possible all year round, by any means (rifle, steel-trap, poison,aircraft, motorized vehicles) . Moreover, the bounty system is still in force: a bounty of 1500 roubles (about 50€) is given for any wolf killed, regardless of its age or its sex.


The wolf population in Russia, according to statistics is about 28,000 wolves, which is considerably less than in Canada.

400 Wolves on The Prowl In Russia
http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2011/02/400-wolves-threaten-russian-town



Please sign petition:

Please write to the President of Russia and ask that this be stopped (You can send a letter with your own words. Many times it has more effect)



Russian letter: 

Уважаемый господин Президент

Я глубоко обеспокоен тем, что в России нет закона о защите волков. . Они могут охотиться круглый год, и все методы. Использование воздушных судов, автотранспортных средств, ловушки и яд не допускается. Щенки выкопали из своих пещер и бросить постигнет та же участь.

Волки нуждаются в защите. Пожалуйста, не предлагает вознаграждение охотникам, когда они убивают волка.

Популяция волков в России сегодня меньше, чем в Канаде. Пожалуйста, укажите, волки, как вымирающий вид.

С уважением,

Name and Country



Attacks on livestock, spreading of rabies and predation on game animals are the arguments advanced in favour of culling. But everything is not lost, the wolf is still in a position to recover if changes are made to protect the animal and its ecosystem. In the cities, opinion has started to change in favour of protection of nature. In the countryside, education and information have an important role to play to make the population aware.

Since he is 10 years old, Vladimir Bologov has followed his father Viktor on the tracks of wolves. Based on hunting knowledge of wolves' suspicion of landscape changes, Viktor proposed a simple method of protection of livestock, consisting in placing unusual objects such as balloons in an area to protect. Vladimir Bologov inherited a fascination for the predator and took up the torch of his father's studies. Powerless concerning a modification of the status of the wolf in Russia, Vladimir became a wolves' advocator in his own way. In 1993, he started a program of rehabilitation of orphan wolf pups purchased from hunters.

Read more:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/from-orphaned-pups-to-howling-in-the-wild/195051.html

Russian officials look for scientist who released wolves into wild near Finnish border
 Officials of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Republic of Karelia are looking for researcher Vladimir Bologov who has released six wolves raised in captivity into the wild in Karelia.

“When we find him he will be fined. Transplanting wolves is illegal, and he did not get our consent”, said Yegor Ruppiyev, head of the hunting section of the Karelian Ministry of Agriculture.

 Ruppiyev says that the case is an isolated one, and releasing wolves into the wild is not common in Russia. “Nobody wants to take on such responsibility and create artificial problems.”

 The wolf population in Russian Karelia is about 340. Ruppiyev says that 150 would be a more appropriate number. Killing a wolf brings a bounty of about EUR 100.
 If the transplanted wolves are caught, they are to be killed.

 Bologov’s wife Natalya Bologova says that her husband is currently in Karelia in the area where the wolves have been released. She has helped her husband in feeding the wolf cubs at their wolf refuge in Tver.

“The transfer of the wolves is part of a study in which Vladimir is testing the adaptability of animals raised in captivity for life in the wild. Later the aim is to apply the method to rare species such as Amur tigers and snow leopards”, Bologova says.
 The two would also like to release otters, lynxes and wolverines. “But we don’t yet know where”, she added by telephone.

 Ruppiyev says that Bologov initially said that he would be releasing wolverines in Karelia.
 In Murmansk there have been efforts to artificially boost the wolverine population.
 Vladimir Bologov left six wolf cubs born in captivity on an island covering 20 hectares in Russian Karelia last summer. The island is 30 kilometres from the Finnish border and 60 kilometres from the centre of Lieksa.

 Bologov visited Karelia nine times. In his reports he describes how the cubs were so big in August that they were capable of swimming away from the island. It is quite possible that they may have crossed into Finland.

 Last year Bologov received a donation of more than EUR 22,000 from three small European environmental organisations and from various private donors in Central Europe.
 Special researcher Ilpo Kojola of the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute says that releasing wolves into the wild is harmful. The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, WWF Finland, and the Finnish Nature League also denounce the activity.
“It is an extremely rare, and the last possible method”, says Tapani Veistola of the The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.

 The wolf cubs were about two months old when they were left on the island. They had been kept in a zoo in Tver, where Bogolov maintains a biological station specialised in caring for animals and releasing them into the wild.
“There is the risk that the wolves are now probably more or less accustomed to being near humans”, says Petteri Tolvanen, programme director at WWF.

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Russian+officials+look+for+scientist+who+released+wolves+into+wild+near+Finnish+border/1329103753066


If you want to help Vladimir Bologov by donation you can do it here:

3 comments:

  1. wolves are russian citizens, too
    treat them the way you
    would want them to
    treat you!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. you are using my Wolf Eye photo as your icon.
    this photo is my property and was used without permission.
    please remove as it violates copy write protection.
    exif data for proof of property is at this link.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/susiecreamcheese/2911025682/meta/

    I do appreciate what you are doing for the wolves... but do not appreciate use of my photo.

    ReplyDelete