Predators
in Finland
Popular
Lynx
The popularity
of Lynx can be seen in Finland; a picture of Lynx is used in a crest and
a lynx has been seen also as Leevi, a popular movie star in a Finnish nature
movie. The lynx has had a chance to live quite peacefully in Finland due
to the change in the animal husbandry after which the cattle no more wandered
freely in the forests. Sheep as well as hare used to be its main sources
of nutriment. Human being has been its worst enemy in addition to wolverine
and the rare wolf. The meat of the lynx is eatable and it has been hunted
especially because of the beautiful and durable fur. Hunting used to be
so intensive that lynx came to be the first great beast under reservation
in Finland and Sweden. The prevalence of lynx included almost whole Finland
in the 1880’s, excluding the northernmost areas of Lapland and coastal
areas of the Middle-Ostrobothnia. While the number of wolves decreased,
the number of lynxes increased in number, but still the hunting was too
intensive and the lynx population did not have a chance to grow. The population
started to retard again in the beginning of the 20th century and by the
1920’s there were only few lynxes left in the southern Finland. The lynx
population grew slightly during the years of the World War II, but in the
50’s it consisted mainly of the border-crossing wanderers. In the 1962
government stopped paying the killing fee. During the years 1978-1988 our
lynx population grew from hundred individuals to eight hundred because
of the supplement from the east. In the beginning of the 1990’s there were
few hundred lynxes less in Finland, but again in the year 1995 estimated
number of lynxes were 750. In addition to its eastern territories. Lynx
nowadays has a more stable position in domestic areas.
Attitudes
today according to the 1999 enquiry: Half of the Finnish people who replied
to the "beast questionnaire" were afraid of the bear. The bear and the
wolf are considered much more frightening than lynx and wolverine. The
replients thought lynx was the most sympathetic beast in Finland. It is
obvious that the movie "A boy and a Lynx" has changed the attitudes as
it represents lynx in a very positive light as a friend of the boy. The
bear is the next sympathetic beast. Only 3% of people considered wolves
or wolverines as sympathetic beasts. The majority of Finns agree that the
population of beasts in Finland should be maintained vital at present and
in the future.
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