Wolfs affect nature conservation

King Friedrich II of Prussia has been said to have stated in 1789 that "dog is a man's best friend". That may or may not be true, but there is no question that dogs are beloved companions of an extremely high number of people, both men and women.  

But actually, dogs are not a real species but only domesticated wolfs. And the latter ones are definitely not beloved animals, but baddies of children´s fairy tales and hated risks of farmed animals in countryside. Only in urban areas you can find people, who wish the number of these beasts to be increased as an important part of natural biodiversity.  

Therefore it was interesting to read about a research, which analyzed the effect of wolf´s return to the voting behavior in Germany, where the sustained environmental conservation has allowed this large carnivore to make a comeback during the recent years. 

This development has been applauded by conservationists, but not by local residents living in the countryside. Therefore researchers collected data on wolf attacks on livestock and popularity of different German parties. As a result, they observed that wolf attacks were accompanied by a significant rise in far-right voting whereas the Green party suffered electoral losses. 

In other words, increasing the number of wolfs - and thus losses of livestock due to this wild predator - may ultimately lead to a reduction in the popularity of policies intended to restore the environment. And therefore it may prevent the success of efforts to keep sustainable sizes of wolf populations in Europe.

Wolf is also an issue in the Finnish countryside. We have right now a pack of animals that include hybrids between wolfs and dogs. Those are considered as harmful alien organisms, and should thus be removed. 

Accordingly, a permission to shoot them was applied, but hybrids were not executed as environmentalists appealed to a court to save them. That act definitely did not increase the popularity of wolf´s protection in the area, and may lead to a growth in the popularity of parties that are most skeptical to big investments in nature conservation efforts urged by the European union. A reflection hardly lauded by the environmentalists of the country.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
90 years ago in Germany
Leaders infected by a parasite
A new justification is needed for environmental activists