– These are predators that are a danger to both people and animals. Therefore, I would like to ask that measures be taken to shoot the wolves, says mayor of Salangen municipality, and sheep farmer, Simon Løvhaug (Sp). According to the head of operations at the Troms police district, Robin Lindberg, five wolves must have escaped from an enclosure in Polar Park in Indre Troms on Monday. – Two of the wolves are not back in the enclosure, says Lindberg to news. Polar Park is an animal park in Salangsdalen in Indre Troms, which specializes in wild northern animals. The chairman of Polar Park denies that there is a danger to people and animals. – There are still sheep out in the field Simon Løvhaug, who is a sheep farmer himself, has been in contact with his farmer colleagues. Two of them have sheep near where the escape happened on Monday. He tells news that the farmers are worried about the sheep that have not yet come down from the pasture. – They are struggling to get the sheep down from the field, they seem scared, says Løvhaug to news. Simon Løvhaug is a sheep farmer himself, and is the mayor of Salangen municipality, which is located north-west of Polar Park – Photo: Kari Anne Skoglund / news Løvhaug thinks it is regrettable that the municipalities in the immediate area have not been notified of the escape, which should have happened on Monday. – I have also spoken to the reindeer herding district, which has also not received any information about escaped wolves, says Løvhaug. He believes that the right thing now is to send up a hunting team from the State Nature Inspectorate to bring down the wolves, before they harm people or the flocks of sheep. – If they manage to lure them down with sausages, or locate and anesthetize them, please let me know. But they cannot let them go for a long time in the field, says the Salangen mayor. Will notify state administrator Hege Beate Rollmoen (Ap) is mayor of Lavangen, which is located west of Polar Park. She shares her concern with her mayoral colleague in the north. – It is clear that they are a danger to grazing animals, we are talking about predators, says Rollmoen to news. Wolves have not previously been common in these areas, but polar bears have ravaged the sheep flocks in the municipalities for several seasons. Rollmoen says she and her mayor colleague in Salangen have agreed to contact the state administrator and the state wildlife inspectorate to speed up the hunt for the wolf. Hege Beate Rollmoen, mayor of Lavangen, and mother of industry minister Cecilie Myrseth (Ap). Photo: Eirik Hind Sveen – We are now contacting the state administrator, and the Norwegian Nature Inspectorate, to hear what they know about the situation. news has been in contact with the head of the Wildlife Board in Troms and Finnmark, Marlene Bråthen (Sp). She says she has just received word that wolves had disappeared from the Polar Park. – I have not received any more information about this yet, she says. Toralf Heimdal is mayor of SP in Bardu municipality, where the park is located. He is also chairman of Polar Park. Photo: Linda Pedersen Search team from the park searches in the field When news spoke to the police on Tuesday evening, the last information they had about two of the wolves was that the zoo does not know where the animals are. – They have no control over them, and they have not been able to find them, says operations manager Robin Lindberg. He says that the police also do not have information about how the wolves got out. – Polar Park must answer for that, he says. Neither staff at the park, nor chairman Stig Sletten, have responded to news’s inquiries. But the Fremover newspaper received a comment from general manager Stig Sletten on Tuesday afternoon. – The last two that we didn’t get in on Monday, we had control of until lunchtime today. They were very skeptical of us, and then they suddenly disappeared for us, Sletten told the newspaper. Toralf Heimdal (Sp) is mayor of Bardu municipality, where the park is located, and also chairman of Polar Park. He says the park’s general manager, Stig Sletten, leads the search team and is out in the field to find the wolves. Heimdal confirms to news that five wolves got out of an enclosure on Monday. – One of the wolves is now somewhere outside the fence of the park, and has been observed. Then we have a wolf that is somewhere out in the field, says Heimdal. In 2014, wolf cubs were born in Polar Park in Salangsdalen. Now some of these animals are on the run. Hole made in the fence Heimdal, who has spoken with the staff in the park, tells news that the wolves must have managed to make a hole in the fence on the night of Monday. – Now the hole has been repaired, he says. Toralf Heimdal believes his mayor-colleagues in Lavangen and Salangen have no reason to worry about the wolf that is out in the fields. – Even if it is a predator, this is no worse than a dog on the loose. The wolves have grown up in captivity, and have never learned to hunt, Heimdal believes. The mayor of Salangen, Simon Løvlig, does not agree with that. – These are wolves that have not grown up naturally, and therefore do not have the natural fear of people, so I would be skeptical if I encountered such an animal on my walks in the fields , he says. Heimdal believes there is no reason to worry about the wolves. – We don’t think the wolf will survive long in the wild. If it doesn’t make it back to the park, it will most likely starve to death after a short time, he says. Published 01.10.2024, at 18.52 Updated 01.10.2024, at 19.07
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Wolves escaped from the Polar Park in Troms – news Troms and Finnmark
