After EU Threat, Sweden Halts Hunting of Endangered Wolves

After a threat of legal action from the European Union, Swedish Environmental Minister Andreas Carlgren says the government has decided to put a halt to its licensed wolf hunts.

The "temporary halt" was to "ensure that Sweden does not lose the right to decide on its own wolf population," Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren told a news conference.

Swedish wolves actually went extinct in the 1970s, though they recolonized from Finland 10 years later. Today, all of the roughly 250 Swedish wolves have descended from those few founding individuals.

Thus, the population is highly inbred, suffering from skeletal abnormalities and reproduction problems. A new study, reported in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests that illegal poaching accounts for over half of all deaths of Swedish wolves. Of that, researchers suggest that over two-thirds of poaching goes undetected.

The study predicts that without the last decade of poaching, wolves would have numbered around a thousand by 2009, four times the number reported that year. While illegal poaching is a great concern, last year, Sweden allowed wolf hunting for the first time in 45 years.

Sweden has held two licensed wolf hunts, one in 2010 and one 2011. This year's ended with 19 out of the quota of 20 wolves shot. This caught the attention of EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potecnik, who claimed that it was a violation of an EU directive.

Though Carlgren argues that the commission's interpretation is "rigid" and does not allow flexibility for local conditions, the nation has agreed to stop the hunting. However, the Swedish Government has stated that it will look into controlled hunting of "problem wolves."

Sweden has long defended the practice in order to secure public support for a viable wolf population in the Nordic nation among groups like hunters, farmers, and reindeer herders.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation welcomed the government's announcement, but added that it needed to study the proposals in greater detail.

No Wolf Hunting This Winter

No licenses to hunt wolves will be issued in Sweden this winter, the government has promised the EU. The current license, whereby a maximum of 210 wolves may be killed, will be halted for the time being, reports Swedish Radio News.

The announcement is seen as a move by the Swedish government to meet the EU Commission half way. The Commission has been critical of Sweden’s wolf policy, saying its licensing of wolf hunting is in breach of EU environmental regulations.

The Swedish government has made the policy change to avoid the possibility of being hauled before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Wolves will still be allowed to be hunted in cases where it is deemed they pose a danger to other animals.

New Species of Dinosaur-era EEL Wriggles Into History Books as a 'Living Fossil'

First eel: The new species discovered in an undersea cave is a 'living fossil', astonishingly similar to the first eels that swam some 200 million years ago

A new species of eel has been discovered which is so old that it retains its dinosaur-era characteristics and has been branded a 'living fossil'. The eel was found in a cave beneath the Pacific Ocean in the Republic of Palau, which is around 500 miles east of the Philippines. 
The reddish brown eel is just 1.7 inches long and has many of the hallmarks of the primitive eels of the Mezozoic era - some 200million years ago.
Such is its anatomical age, the species has required an entirely new breed of classification from scientists, because none of the other 819 species, which are grouped into 19 families, would suffice.

It has been called Protoanguilla Palau, which is a mix of Greek and Latin meaning 'first eel', and is the only example of the newly-created taxonomic family, Protoanguillidae.

The discovery was made by a team from the Natural History Museum and Institute in Chiba, Japan, led by Masaki Miya, which reported it s findings in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Among the ages-old features of the eel are a disproportionately large head compared to its short body, distinctive gills and iridescent fins with white piping. 'The eel looks so bizarre - large head with relatively short body and various unique, internal characters - that no ichthyologist, including us, correctly identified it as a member of true eel at first sight,' Miya told Discovery News.Eight specimens of the P. Palau were collected by hand using nets and lamps, varying between 3-4 inches long, and were DNA tested to ensure they were part of the eels genetic family.

Its cave home is at the western end of a fringing reef - one of three types of reef, alongside barrier reefs and atolls - of Ngemelis Island, Palau.

The cave in an undersea ridge is estimated to be between 60 and 70 million years old, and while it may have once been more widely populous - and could still be - it is currently only known to exist in this one location.

That has led to discussions about making it an endangered species to protect it from curious divers and avaricious aquariums looking for unique exhibits.  

It has also raised as many questions as it has answered for evolutionary biologists, with 'living fossils' being rare discoveries.

The term was first used by Charles Darwin in his book On The Origin of Species to describe species that have survived for millions of years with barely any evolution due to 'having inhabited a confined area, and from having thus been exposed to less severe competition.'

UK's first Arctic wolves come to Beenham

UK Wolf Conservation’s Trust to show three Arctic wolf cubs, the first ever seen in the UK

THE first ever Arctic wolf cubs seen in the UK will be on show in Beenham at the UK Wolf Conservation’s Trust (UKWCT) open day.

Visitors at the open day on Monday, August 29, will have the opportunity to see and take photographs of all the Trust’s wolves from specially adapted viewing points.

The three special cubs were born at Parc Safari in Canada during a fierce snowstorm which left them fighting for their lives after suffering hypothermia.

They were rescued by staff from the park and hand-reared before being brought to the UK where they will now become ambassadors for their wild cousins.

The UKWCT is offering the unique trio a home where they will join the Trust’s own set of Beenham wolf cubs born in April this year.

The addition of this year’s cubs bring the total number of wolves at the park to 12.

They live in smaller packs in three large enclosures, and act as ambassadors for their species to help Trust staff and volunteers raise awareness about the conservation of their wild cousins.

Money raised goes towards supporting scientific research and education programmes throughout Europe, North America and Africa.

Grizzly Bears

Grizzly bears are a subspecies of brown bear, set apart by their size, their silver-tipped fur and their trademark hump of upper-back muscles. Scientists think North American grizzlies (Ursus arctos horribilis) evolved from Asia's Ussuri brown bears, which migrated into Alaska from Siberia some 100,000 years ago.

They eventually spread as far as Mexico and the Great Lakes, but European settlers and U.S. pioneers later wiped them out across most of the Lower 48 states, leaving only a few pockets in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Washington. All U.S. grizzlies were added to the endangered species list in 1975 except those in Alaska, where they're still abundant.

60 Parks in 60 Days

These 60 stories are essentially a user's guide for America's incredible park system.

Mother Nature Network is exploring a wide variety of national, state and local gems, from the country's most famous national park to the special city park that only the locals know about. We've crisscrossed the nation to give you a taste of the country's best parks.

 We'll be bringing you a new park every day from now through Aug. 31. Join us for the ride.

Park primer Glacier National Park

Here's a place where all the superlatives apply — from the mountain views to the colors in the landscape ... oh, and don't forget the grizzly bears.

Glacier National Park in northwest Montana is a place befitting Big Sky Country. The park’s million-plus acres contain more than 1,500 miles of stream, six mountain peaks taller than 10,000 feet, 25 named glaciers and more than 745 miles of hiking trails from which to explore it all.

It’s a place big enough and wild enough for grizzly bears. It’s a place so unpredictable you can have 90-degree days and a foot of snow all within the month of August. It’s a place where a person can feel small — and sometimes that’s a good thing. 

History

Glacier National Park — established as the country’s 10th national park on May 11, 1910, when President William Howard Taft signed the enabling legislation — borders Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park. The adjoining parks were named Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park when designated as the world's first International Peace Park in 1932. The United Nations designated the parks as Biosphere Reserves in 1976 and as World Heritage sites in 1995.

Things to do

Every visitor has to take a drive along the Going-to-the-Sun Road, 50 miles of white-knuckle driving through the heart of the park. The road — which this year wasn’t completely clear of snow until July 13 — passes through forests and alpine tundra. There are spectacular views of mountain peaks and alpine lakes — and you can get a sense of the views via the park's numerous webcams. There are scenic overlooks and trailheads. The speed limit is just 40 mph, but you won’t want to go that fast.

In 1983, Going-To-The-Sun Road was included in the National Register of Historic Places and in 1985 was made a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

The park’s 700+ miles of hiking trails offer dozens of day hike options. Easy hikes for families with small children include Trail of the Cedars, the Rocky Point Trail, the Oxbow Trail, Avalanche Lake and Hidden Lake Nature Trail.

Leave the road, and the trail, by seeing Glacier National Park by boat. Glacier Park Boat Company offers boat tours at Many Glacier, Lake McDonald, Rising Sun on St. Mary Lake and Two Medicine. The boat tour starting from the dock at Many Glacier Hotel, for example, includes a trip across Swiftcurrent Lake, a short walk to Lake Josephine and a cruise across the second lake.

And if you want to travel behind a boat, water skiing is permitted on Lake McDonald and St. Mary Lake.

Why you’ll want to come back

Bring a passport so next time you can drive the Chief Mountain Highway to Waterton Lakes National Park across the border in Canada.

Flora and fauna

If you want to see a grizzly bear in the wild, this is a pretty good place to look. Glacier National Park is home to 62 species of mammals, including black bears, moose, elk, mountain goat and bighorn sheep. Predators found in the park include the gray wolf, lynx, wolverine and cougar.

By the numbers:

• Website: Glacier National Park
• Park size: 1,013,594 acres or 1,583 square miles
• 2010 visitation: 2,200,048
• Funky fact: Water, water everywhere: Glacier National Park contains 762 lakes, only 131 of which are named.

This is an element of MNN's 60 parks in 60 days project, a user's guide for America's incredible park system. Come with us as we explore a wide variety of national, state and local gems, from the country's most famous national park to that special city park that only the locals know about. We'll be adding a new park every day from now until the end of August — one more reason to visit MNN more frequently.