Update on Wolves in Finland - TY @Kuunneito

Wolves in Finland

keskiviikko 27. tammikuuta 2016

Update and wolf's historical burden

Update on the wolf hunt: 19 wolves have been killed by 26th. Of these, unfortunately 2 were alphas. One female was shot accidentally since instructions said to target the smallest ones, who are pups. Unfortunately the alpha female was petite and with two large males, so as per instructed, hunter chose the smallest of the three that came to his sight. It was only after wolf was shot hunter discovered that the animal had been the alpha female, since collared wolves are given also ear tags. Her collar had dropped off in the summer so hunter was in belief that the individual he targeted was a pup.
Second alpha was a collared male, but since his coat covered the collar, hunter did not see this and thus chose it instead of waiting another one to target.
In Eno, a weakened wolf was also shot. This individual was emaciated, feeding itself from bird feeders in yards and was seen several times near a school. It was even in touching distance from a child walking a dog. Police decided to give permit to shoot this individual to end it's sufferings, since it was clear that it would not live much longer and would otherwise die of starvation.

Throughout the world wolves carry a historical burden of their ancestors. In Finland, wolves killed a large number of people between 1700-1881. After a series of child killings in Varsinais-Suomi area, a professional wolf hunters "lukashi" were called from Russia to help. After they had hunted few wolves the attacks towards people ended. So did wolves tale in Finland for a long time, since methods learned were taken in to action and wolves were eradicated from most of the country. Last wolves were killed somewhere around 1920s. By estimates using number of wolves killed annually, it is thought that during the killings there were 600-800 wolves in Finland.

In the following map, 171 adults and children that were killed by wolves are represented. Their names, ages and the day of death. These are taken from parish registers between 1700 and 1881.

Map of wolf killed humans 1700-1881

Map is courtesy of Kaj Granlund and most of the data is retrieved from parish registries by Jouko Teperi.

The last person to survive from wolf attack was  Ida Kustaantytär Laakso, who was attacked 22th of  October 1880. During this time she was 9 years. She was saved by her scarf and a neighbor who came to help and drove the wolf away with an axe. Ida suffered severe lacerations and bore scars rest of her live. She died in 1960 at the age of 88. 

source