Researchers and conservationists are warning against the policy of marking wild animals in Norway, while officials want to expand the controversial process.
In a special letter to the government, National Parks mountain ranger Geir Skillelbæk gives several grotesque examples of how wolves, bears, lynx, and other animals have suffered because of the radio marking, reported Norwegian daily Aftenposten over the weekend...
..Large wild animals are currently marked mostly for research purposes, not least to track their wanderings and migration patterns. Now Norway's Directorate for Nature Management (Direktoratet for naturforvaltning, DN) wants unlimited ability to mark animals so they can have complete control over where they are and follow their movements.
"Wolves and bears are no longer nature if they go around with collars and embedded radio senders," claims Lars Haltbrekken, leader of Friends of the Earth Norway (Norges Naturvernforbund).
He fears that the marking will make it easier for people to catch the animals, in addition to the suffering the animals undergo through the marking.
Skillebæk has a number of examples of wild animals in Norway and Sweden that have been injured or killed as a result of the marking. "There has been too little focus on wild animals that have been taken and exposed to these technical operations," he said. "This is a very ethical debate."
Skillebæk has filmed wolves sitting and clawing around the radio band fixed to their legs. He claims there are other ways to follow the animals than the currently used radio-marking...
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