MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Wolf numbers are increasing all over Europe, so to say that it’s specifically "Russian" wolves that are eating away at Finland’s reindeer population is a bit presumptuous, advisor to the head of Rosprirodnadzor, the Russian environmental oversight agency, Amirkhan Amirkhanov told TASS.
CNN published a story on its website earlier saying that the reindeer population in Finland had decreased due to frequent wolf attacks. It alleged that the wolves came from Russia, where they had propagated due to less hunting.
"The wolf population has increased in recent years in the European part of Russia and Europe in general. But if the problem is specific to Finland, then the cause lies with them as well. Why did they decide our wolves went there? This is fruitless, strange talk. Our reindeer numbers have stayed pretty much the same; there is no data that there has been a decline causing wolves to go elsewhere in search of food," Amirkhanov noted.
He further added that wolves eat other animals too, not just reindeer.
"There has never been such a quantity of reindeer that they serve as the main food source for wolves, even for polar ones," the expert added.