Opinion: Norwegian Golden Eagle Cull

By Tormod Amundsen

It is with disbelief that I write about the fact that the Norwegian government have decided to start a test program on culling Golden Eagles. Even though this is a test project limited to two smaller regions in central and northern Norway there is no positive outcome of this program.

Golden Eagle. (© Lars Lofaldi/BirdLife Norway )

Substantial research from Norway and other countries confirm that there is little to no correlation between the Golden Eagles population density and number of sheep or reindeer in a region. The facts are that the Golden Eagles account for less then 2% of sheep and less then 4-6 % of the Reindeer that die in the nature before they are butchered. Stray dogs, falling over, drowning, cars, trains and disease are variables that make the real impact.

Culling Golden Eagles to an extent where it would have an effect of the sheep / Reindeer population would essentially mean eradicating them from entire parts of the country. That is not going to happen. What is happening now is simply symbolic policy where the only result is incredibly bad PR for Norway and several lives of our precious Golden Eagles lost. For what? To save a very few sheep, of which we have 2.3 million of?

The story of Golden and White-tailed Eagles in Norway is a conservation success story. Both species was heavily hunted and nearly lost from the Norwegian fauna, until they were protected in 1968. Since then both species have recovered well. Golden Eagles seem to have stabilized at a population of slightly less than 1000 pairs. I can understand a local politician or a local farmer making the argument of killing Golden (but I do not agree!), but our members of parliament, in charge of running the country, have a much bigger task, and the numbers should speak for themselves.

There is room for 1000 pairs of Golden Eagles in Norway. Perhaps the sustainability of 2,300000 sheep is what we should be discussing. Rather than addressing the 5% of the cause of sheep / Reindeer death in nature we should make an effort to tackle the 95% of the reasons for unwanted sheep / Reindeer deaths?!

I now see the talks of boycotting Norway. I completely understand the anger, disbelief and frustration in a very large international community of birders and nature conservationists. Where the rest of Europe is struggling to maintain a sense of intact and rich nature, it surely seems ignorant to a disturbing level that Norway is treating its birdlife so poorly.

I do not believe in boycotting, but rather making our voices heard. There are way too many politicians in Norway who seem to live in bubble of their own. Their world has not yet become global. And the answer here is not to isolate them more. Narrowmindedness can only be cured with information and voicing your opinion. Simply the fact that the immense negative PR effect this proposal have for Norway should have been reason enough to stay far away from the bad idea of culling eagles.

Luckily Norway is moving forward and where usually just a hard core group of conservationists would stand up and argue, we now see that even big parties like the Norwegian Commerce Organisation (NHO) is making a stand against this proposal. The logic is clear: Norway´s brand slogan is ´powered by nature´, and huge areas of intact nature, unspoilt scenery is incredibly valuable to Norway and its economy. Sure there are a thousands of things we do wrong in Norway, but there are also thousands things we do right.

To our politicians in Norway: How about we just stop doing plain and simple stupid things, then lets work towards making the positives outnumber the negatives. It would be good for both economy and ecology.

How you can help

How to react to this? Make your voice heard: The best way to go about this case is to make your voice heard. Like mentioned: too many Norwegian politicians need to realise the international impact of their actions. In Norway we have a prime minister who have been ranked the most available of all PMs in Europe. It is a fact that many Norwegians are proud of. We aim for a democratic and informed debate where your voice matters. When our politicians fail to see the global picture we need your help and wake-up call.

On twitter you will find prime minister Erna Solberg @erna_solberg and our minister of climate- and environment, Vidar Helgesen @VidarHelgesen. When the nature conservation community is overheard in Norway it would certainly help with a global voice. Do make your opinion heard.

Tormod Amundsen

Architect (M.Arch) & birder

Vardø, Norway

www.biotope.no

8 Jun 2016

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