Meeting a wolf

The wolf is a sizeable wild animal and large carnivore and you should remain calm and fearless when coming face to face with one. A rabid wolf or a wolf that is put on the defensive may harm a human, but this has not happened in Finland since the late 19th century.

Learn about large carnivores in Finland at largecarnivores.fi

Wed Jun 22 10:00:00 2016

Finland has long experience in conserving large carnivores and managing their populations, and indeed there is wide interest abroad in the Finnish policy on large carnivores. This is why the Finnish suurpedot.fi website is now also available in English at largecarnivores.fi. This allows us to give information and take part in the exchange of information and views on large carnivores across Europe.

Largecarnivores.fi website offers a lot of information on the four large carnivores in Finland: wolf, bear, lynx and wolverine. Besides the highly popular details on the species and their tracks there is information on the conservation and management of large carnivores and their position in society.

“We wish to tell about the varying interests relating to large carnivores from the perspective of management, conservation or, for example, reindeer husbandry,” says Sami Niemi, Ministerial Adviser at the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The English language website is an information window on large carnivores in Finland for the international media, NGOs and all those interests in the matter.

The website is maintained by the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Metsähallitus, the Finnish Wildlife Agency, the Natural Resources Institute Finland and the Ministry of the Environment.

Inquiries:
Sami Niemi, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finland, tel. +358 295 162 391, forename.surname@mmm.fi

Take part in game animal research!

Report a sighting

A large carnivore sighting can consist of seeing the animal itself, or spotting the tracks, droppings, carcasses, claw marks or other signs left behind by the carnivore somewhere in the wilds. By reporting your sighting you are taking part in game animal research. Every year tens of thousands of sig...

Damage prevention

Occasionally large carnivores cause damages to domestic animals. Livestock and hunting dogs are the most common targets. However, a significant portion of large carnivore damages may be avoided with the right kind of preventive measures.

Large carnivores in populated areas & road accidents

A large carnivore that causes damage, repeatedly acts in a problematic manner or ventures into a populated area must always be reported to the emergency exchange (tel: 112). The primary aim is to scare the predator away from coming too close to populated areas. The animal is only put down if it is b...