Norway to Kill Wolves to Protect Sheep Industry

Last week, the Norwegian government issued the largest planned cull of wolves in more than a century. Government officials approved the killing of up to 47 of the estimated remaining 68 wolves in Norway, citing the predator’s endangerment of the country’s profitable sheep industry. Animal-rights organizations say that the wild wolf population will not be able to survive the cull. “With this decision, three out of six family groups of wolves might be shot,” says Silje Ask Lundberg, chair of Friends of East Norway—an organization that is also calling on the minister of environment to halt the cull. The practice of killing animals who pose a threat to the animal agriculture industry is not isolated to Norway. In addition to The Department of Fish and Wildlife approving the killing of an entire wolf pack in Washington state in August, last week the United States’ Bureau of Land Management agreed on a plan to kill 45,000 wild horses to make room for cattle farms.