The government wants to reduce the number of wolves in Sweden sharply, said Minister of Rural Affairs Anna-Caren Sätherberg (S) in an interview with SVT.
Linda Andersson, who is a game manager at the County Administrative Board in Jönköping, says that it is difficult to estimate how many wolves there are in the county.
She believes that you can instead go on how many territories there are.
This is because other wolves pass through the county and then move on.
But right now the county is affected by two wolf territories and two wolves that the County Administrative Board deems to be stationary but which do not belong to a territory.
- It may happen that a wolf walks past and is not stationary and that the wolves meet each other, says Linda Andersson.
Smaller territory than usual
It is generally said that a territory is ten square miles large, but the territory that is in Jönköping County and which borders Västra Götaland County is much smaller and is about one or a couple of square miles.
- It depends on how the supply of food is, there is plenty of food, the territory can be smaller.
It can also be limited by other things such as roads, lakes and other things that keep the wolves within their area.
But the common explanation is that if there is plenty of food, they do not need to have as large territories.
Important with predator fencing
- We have hiking wolves that pass the county and that can appear a little here and there.
So just because there are territories in the northwestern parts of the county does not mean that wolves can not appear elsewhere, which you should be aware of.
- Domestic animal owners, especially sheep owners, should consider whether they are in need of predator fencing, says Linda Andersson.