Help us save the Finnish Wolf from extinction - Stop buying reindeer products!

These maps displays the silenced facts:

Large predators killed by a poacher, known cases in Finland:
The meaning of the tags:
Red: Wolf, Yellow: Lynx, Green: Bear, Blue: Wolverine

https://maps.google.fi/maps/ms?msid=202424292118402625109.0004d0f9fad644275e264&msa=0&ll=65.109148%2C26.367188&spn=9.150352%2C34.40918

Granted wolf hunting permits and kills in Finland 2012:

Blue tags are granted permits by Finnish Game Association that are not used or the deadline is expired.
Red: FGA Granted permit and one killed wolf
Green: Killed wolf ordered by the police Yellow: Wolf died by accident or killed because of injuries/health The map does NOT include poached wolves or not used police permits.

https://maps.google.fi/maps/ms?msid=202424292118402625109.0004cde34471cedd611e9&msa=0&ll=66.774586%2C29.135742&spn=9.629253%2C39.506836&mid=1355302794

Please read more, here are some of the reasons to support our opinions:

About one thousand households earn their living for reindeers. The reindeer herding area covers 36% of Finland's total area. In herding area reindeers are allowed to move freely without permit from other landowners which means they can do damage to forest and the landowner has no right to evict them. Reindeer may also be dangerous creature to humans during mating time. Think what happens when a big male reindeer attacks to small child who is waiting for the school bus middle of the forest? Is reindeer economy profitable if total amount of sold meat is 16.100.000€ per year when compos are 20.000.000€? This includes predator compos 5 million€, fawn compos 1 million€ and just to have livestock 4.5 million€. Every one of 4400 reindeer owners in Finland enjoys compensations even if it is just a hobby. The average of all the reindeer owners one herder makes 549€ from the compos and 305€ from the meat. This is just an average number of all 4400, but actual income from reindeer industry gets only one thousand Finns like we said earlier. This does not include public subsidies provided by Finnish government and EU.

There are too many reindeers in some areas and it causes problems with environment. Due to the lack of food reindeers suffer and according to statements it's likely that some reindeers are starving to death during the winter. Also fawns are weaker which means they are more likely to be killed in the wilderness.

Predators in Finland also suffer because of reindeer industry. Like endangered wolves are legally hunted during the hunting season 2011-2012 a total of 20 of which 18 had been shot in reindeer herding area. According to Finnish Game and Fishers Research Institute there were about 40 to 50 wolves in 2011. The most recent data shows the number is decreasing rapidly, now there are only 20-40 wolves. Figure is very small to consider this area is the best for the wolves to live in their natural habitat and it covers 36% of Finland's total area.

Now Finnish government has decided that wolves are not endangered inside reindeer herding area. Which means all the wolves will be hunted in Northern Finland because of too easily granted hunting permits. Despite this, travelling agencies in Lapland uses large carnivores as a marketing asset.

Illegal hunting of the large predators is a problem. It's not supervised properly so the fear of getting caught is very small. Because of the government wolf policy, the free movement of the wolf population from Russia to Norway and Sweden is prohibited. This causes genetic impoverishment to wolves all over Scandinavia.

Predator Friendly -certification is being used in some countries and would work in Finland too. Predator friendly enterprises would reach better markets and achieve more clients because they don't kill endangered animals for the product.

Reindeer herding is an excuse the fact that it is a tradition of the Sami culture. Reindeer herding is a relatively new way of living. It first started from Enontekiö area in the 1600's and expanded slowly to north. Number of the reindeers all over in Finland was very small at all times in the 1800's. In Norway and Sweden reindeer herding is allowed only for the Sami people.

We believe that correcting these issues would be a great start to bring reindeer industry to this century.

Sources: Finnish Game and Fishers Research Institute(http://www.rktl.fi/english/) Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry(http://www.mmm.fi/en/index/frontpage.html) The Wolf Action Group of the Finnish Nature League(http://luontoliitto.fi/susiryhma/in-english/) www.craftmuseum.fi