How Extremist Activists Endanger Hunters in Finland

Finland has a very large population of cervids, such as moose and deer. Due to their large numbers, they cause significant damage by destroying young forest plantations and causing traffic accidents. On the other hand, they provide hunters with both a hobby and food.

The balance of this whole system is overseen by the Finnish Wildlife Agency, which grants hunting permits for cervid species in such a way that each population remains viable and healthy. At the same time, attention is also paid to ensuring that predator populations—especially wolves—remain strong and safe for people, so that they do not need to hunt humans moving in nature due to lack of food. Wolves have not generally been hunted in Finland in this millennium, except for individuals that have threatened humans or specialized in attacking livestock.

This equation seems to be too difficult to grasp for those belonging to the Animal Liberation Front. That is why they have made hunting towers used by hunters dangerously unsafe by sawing them.

The police are currently investigating these crimes and searching for the perpetrators. According to Member of Parliament Sanna Antikainen (Finns Party), it would be important that the police and prosecutors treat these acts as endangerment of life rather than mere vandalism. This wish is worth supporting, so that various political activist groups, which are resorting to increasingly harsh measures, would be made to comply with the law and avoid endangering other people.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Demonstration Demonstrated the Selfishness of the Demonstrators
Organized Vandalism in Helsinki, Finland
Greta Thunberg in Search of a Greater Thrill

Number of Predators is Increasing in Russia

The war in Ukraine has had many different consequences. However, not many people have considered that one of them is the rapid growth of the wolf population in the Murmansk region, which has led to an exceptionally large number of these dog-like predators crossing the border into Finland.

Wolves are also being spotted on the Russian side of the Kola Peninsula in places where they have never been seen before. And this is not a one-time occurrence, as Russia’s wolf population has grown significantly during previous wars as well.

According to Finnish large carnivore researcher Ilpo Kojola, the explanation for the increase in wolves is that military personnel have played—and still play—a significant role in regulating Russia’s wolf population. And they are not dealing with the wolves when they have been transferred elsewhere to kill people.

So, could it be said that a community has now been found whose members would surely express—if they knew how to speak or write, say, on social media—their satisfaction with Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine? And who would support the continuation of the war forever, until the very last Russian soldier?

* * *

Today we also heard the news that Chinese soldiers have been fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian forces. It remains to be seen whether China will acknowledge this.

Similarly, it remains to be seen whether Donald Trump will ultimately dare to declare to Russia that the United States will support Ukraine as much as necessary — until the very last Russian soldier is either dead or has left Ukrainian soil. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
President of Finland Asked Whether There Are Top Politicians With Serious Intellectual Limitations
Wolfs affect nature conservation
Leaders infected by a parasite

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

Leaders infected by a parasite

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasitic protozoan that causes toxoplasmosis, which in humans is associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric and behavioral conditions. The parasite is capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals,  but may undergo sexual reproduction only in felids (cats and its relatives). 

The parasite has been shown to increase rodents' chances of being preyed upon by felids by altering their behavior. As a consequence, rats that do not avoid cat habitations and are therefore more likely to become cat prey.

The famous Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA, has a diverse carnivore community including gray wolves and cougars, intermediate and definitive hosts of the parasite, respectively. In a newly published investigation it was shown, that wolf territory overlap with areas of high cougar density was an important predictor of infection. 

In addition, wolves hosting the parasite were more likely to make high-risk decisions such as dispersing and becoming a pack leader, both factors critical to individual fitness and wolf vital rates. The change was considerable as the reported data showed that infected wolves were 11 times more likely than uninfected ones to leave their birth family to start a new pack, and 46 times more likely to become pack leaders - often the only wolves in the pack that breed.

The study did not provide data how this this behavioral modification of wolfs resulted in the parasite breeding in cougars, but according to the authors it is probable that the toxoplasmosis would create a feedback loop that increases spatial overlap and disease transmission between wolves and cougars. 

Taken together, the above described results show an example of unexpectedly complicated relationship between a parasite with its two hosts. The obvious question arising is the effect of toxoplasmosis on the behavior of humans. 

After all, it is very common. For example in the United States, approximately 11% of people have been infected, while in some areas of the world this is more than 60%. The infection rate in Finland is ca. 15%. 

Despite this, there is no scientific information about the parasite´s behavioral effect on infected humans. However, after reading the article linked above I would definitely be happy to see some research on the topic. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Microbes manipulate their hosts (In Finnish, but can be read in English by Google translator)
World oceans are filled with previously unknown viruses
Seeing sex developed novel cultures