Save Susi, Sweden's most important wolf

UPDATE October 22 2017

Susi was killed by a criminal hunter.

She was persecuted for several years mainly by the Swedish indigenous Sami reindeer herders, but also by the hunters associations and their powerful politicians. She behaved 100% naturally and kept away from us humans.

A few month ago new information surged on what had happened to Susi. According to quite reliable sources she was last seen dead in a freezer after having been illegally killed. The information had been reported to the authorities who in turn decided not to issue a search warrant to check on the freezer. The owner of the freezer of course denies the accusations.

Read the news here (in swedish): Susi dead in a Freezer

She had found the forest she most loved and wanted to live out the rest of her life in. Sadly her forest of choice is in the top half of Sweden where the indigenous Sami have the right to kill all predators. She was moved by authorities to a forest area down towards the capital city. She refused to stay there so she walked back to her home, over 600km away. She was moved back several times and she always walked back home. The people that hated her the most and wanted her dead were the Sami reindeer herders.

UPDATE December 18 2016

A few month ago new information was revealed about

UPDATE December 18 2016

I intend to keep fighting for her even after her and her partners apparent death long time ago so please keep spreading the petition and signing, giving me and her the support to seek justice for her and her partner. I will peacefully fight the ones responsible, but I will make it hurt where it hurts them the most, their pockets and their honor.

UPDATE October 4 2014
Excuse me my late update. I've been sick for a long time and am back now.
We have NOT given up on Susi and her partner. We will keep fighting for her in any way we can even if she's been killed. There is a lot we can do in her memory. She will be an icon for the fight to restore Swedish wildlife.
Please do keep spreding this petition for now as it will keep her in everyones mind and help us put pressure on the guilty parties.

UPDATE March 25 2014
*** WORST NEWS possible. ***
Susi and her partner are up in smoke. No one has seen ANY sign at all from them since mid February. Trackers have been out, and nice track snow has been around, but not a sign of them.
We are quite certain they have both been killed. Hate groups have offered big money for her fur and the Sami reindeer herders have not complained once since they dissapeared. They otherwise come in with complaints about this wolf couple constantly. The chances someone would dare enter these remote areas and kill Susi without the consent of the Sami villages leaders is slim.
You people do the math.

This Sami Village suddenly yesterday sent in a new request for Susi to be killed but without any comments on any reindeer having been attacked last 1½ month. They've noticed the talks going around about their involvement so this looks like they are trying to portrait themselves as innocent to this now.
The truth is that even the reindeers they have claimed been attacked by Susi and her partner have not been proven killed by Susi or her partner.

UPDATE March 10 2014
Sami reindeer herders are now complaining that she is not being killed this year either. No acceptance for any predators in any of their territories. 
Truth is that the 8000 reindeers in this case with Susi are the ones enteringt SUSI's territory. The reindeer herders say that since they can't stop their reindeer from entering the wolves territory they should be allowed to kill her asap. They are now trying to look for other legal means to kill her and her partner, maybe through emergency kill by police for an individual that are immediate threat.

They are planning on also taking it to the EU, which I hope they do, to cry about their human rights. What rights? Wolves that need to eat to survive against humans that have exessive amounts of cattle out in the wild and do not even get an income out of it?

UPDATE March 7 2014
The Supreme Administrative Court will decide on this matter after March 20.

FEBRUARY 22 2014

STILL VERY URGENT!
Swedish EPA has decided that this case is to be taken to The Supreme Administrative Court to get the right to kill Susi and her partner.
It is now a matter of prestige for our government. They claim that if not allowed to kill Susi and partner, the whole idea of being able to solve "problem wolves" by killing them is lost and the system breaks down.

Want to contact the people deciding over her death? Here they all are:

Sami village chairman requesting they be killed: Tomas Nejne
Chairman of the Swedish Sami National Association: Jörgen Jonsson
EPA official approving the kill: Mimmi Skog
Director General of EPA: Maria Ågren
Top politician in charge: Lena Ek (probably won't answer mail)
Lena Ek's press officer: Erik Bratthall

Copy all of the addresses with commas and all to the TO field in your mail.

tomas.nejne@stihken.se, info@stihken.se, jorgen.jonsson@sapmi.se, jorgen@sapmi.se, mimmi.skog@naturvardsverket.se, maria.agren@naturvardsverket.se, lena.ek@gov.se, lena.ek@regeringskansliet.se, erik.bratthall@gov.se, erik.bratthall@regeringskansliet.se

Susi, the female wolf also endearingly called “the Red Riding Hood”, is extremely important to the whole of Sweden's wolf population. She has genes that are "fresh" and different from the rest of the populations which is inbreed.

She needs to be saved at any and every cost.

The Swedish EPA today announced that Susi was to be killed. The court quickly overruled until a final decision be made by the court. (Read more at the bottom)

The EPA is hoping for this stormy petition to die OFF. Let’s not give them the pleasure !!!

I’m not giving up, not even now in December 2013, almost a year later. I’ll NEVER give up.

But I need your help. Thank you, ALL of you, for helping. You are the hope for Susi’s future. People like you are the hope for a sane and beautiful future World.

*** CATASTROPHIC Bill pushed*** The end to all our predators? possibly (read at the bottom)

At the end of September 2013, the government of Sweden started pushing for a bill that will enable the killing of 5000 of Sweden's total population of 8000 predators (wolves, eagles, bears, lynx, wolverines) and with much more ease than before, as before wasn't easy enough. The bill will probably be passed sometime beginning of December 2013.

KEEP SIGNING, Please !

(Important UPDATES at the bottom of the page.)

NEW UPDATE December 2, 2013. Read all the way at the bottom.

Susi now has her own Facebook page. Please join in and support her here too:

https://www.facebook.com/susi.the.wolf

Keep signing to put pressure on Sweden to save her.

Government officials (EPA) will continue to try to find loopholes and ways to get this through, to get the rights to kill her. The only way to finally get a stop to this madness is through the international pressure that you are helping me with.

The rest of Sweden's wolves are heavily inbred and that comes from the state sanctioned hunting and killing off all the important wolves that come into our country.

This is a tactic they have had for many years now, but in this case this wise female eluded the hunters until a temporary court order saved her for a while. This was the first time a court order saved wolves in Sweden.

Since they have killed every partner she has found and therefore can't get a family, she is forced to hunt alone which is not normal for a wolf. Wolves need to live in big families called packs.

Wolves main prey are the elk, but they are too big for a single wolf to take down so she is forced, by the decision makers, to hunt small prey and the most abundant small prey is the reindeer. Since we only have domestic reindeer after eliminating all the wild ones, she can't hunt any other prey than domestic reindeer which in turn is what they, the decision makers, refer to when deciding that she has to die, saying she takes too many reindeer's.

In the Swedish law it's stated that all other measures of protecting livestock has to be taken before a license to kill a predator can be given but that law is toothless and has never been complied with in any case. Wolves are being killed constantly without ever having implemented any of the more normal steps of protecting livestock and same goes for this case. The reindeer's are not at all protected.

The decision makers won't let her get a family and they won't let her hunt the only prey she can hunt without a family.

No matter what she does she's doomed to be killed.

UPDATE Feb 19, 2013

The court has ordered that this wolf is not to be touched until a final ruling has been decided upon and that ruling is to come any day now.

Unfortunately our "Swedish Environmental Protection Agency" has told media that they will not await such a decision, which means they are breaking the law. Appalling how a state owned agency pretending to stand for the protection of nature and wildlife is actually the one destroying it AND breaking the law. This is how great our democracy is. Don't be fooled by our propaganda. This agency is often deciding against nature and wildlife.

Update Feb 21, 2013:

Late yesterday the court came out with it's ruling. In short it states that no hunting on Susi will be allowed. They court says that the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency decision to kill her does not meet the criterias for an exception from the prior decision they made from prohibiting any more killing of wolves.

Susi is not safe YET. More applications to kill her come in all the time, and have just come in as I write this, and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency will continue to try and get rights to kill her. So please, PLEASE, keep signing this petition. I'm hoping that at some point they will realize their madness and stop this pursuit.

Update Feb 22, 2013:

The EPA (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency) had in mind to give a go ahead today but they have put it off until next week and the most probable reason for that is that this petition is too hot at the moment. They want to wait until this wears off and then give the go ahead to kill her. It’s almost unheard of them putting off these decisions.

So PLEASE keep forwarding this petition to anyone you know and on every forum you can. Don’t let this wear off until we get a final decision, hopefully, that they will spare Susi.

We will never give up, they better realize that.

Update Feb 24, 2013:

Weekend is over and now we wait for the horror of EPA's decision, which they said would come this week.

If they are wise they should realize how important Susi is.

Update Feb 26, 2013:

The head of the Swedish EPA, Maria Ågren, this morning published an article in Sweden’s major morning newspaper (Svenska Dagbladet) and said that a decision to kill Susi will be taken later in the day.

At noon EPA announced that the decision had been take to kill Susi.

Within minutes of the announcement several Swedish nature and wildlife organisations appealed the decision and about two hours later a court ruling announced that they have stopped the hunt until a final ruling be made by the court. This means that Susi COULD be safe for another two weeks.

Update March 4, 2013:

Court is atm taking input from EPA who wants to kill Susi and from wildlife organizations pointing out the high importance of her and that other measures to protect the reindeers have not been applied, and that no changes in circumstances have incurred since the last overruled application to kill Susi.

When both parties are done informing on their views and position, the court will make a decision. I do not know the date for that decision yet but will inform you all as soon as I hear about it or any other news.

Hope you all keep spreading this petition.

Susi and all of Sweden's wolves need your voice.

Update March 9, 2013:

Before the final judgement of the court on the last decision by EPA to kill Susi was to be announced, the EPA reached out to the organizations that had appealed the decision, for a meeting to discuss a proposal of theirs. The proposal was to move Susi to another area in Sweden. They disclosed this on Thursday and yesterday, Friday, they had the meeting, the EPA and the wildlife/nature organizations. A majority decision was made to move her. The Swedish Predators Association did not agree on the decision though, and I concur with them. We want her to stay in the area she has chosen. There will come other wolves to claim that same territory once it’s uninhabited by a wolf so the problem does not go away by moving her. We need to get everyone involved to start dealing with nature in a natural way.

This move will be the fourth time she's moved. All prior three times when she's been moved, she’s returned to her chosen favorite area. Sedation is a risky business and a move is not good for a wild animals health. Three times is considered to be the absolute maximum amount of times you can move a wolf. But as the authorities, with EPA in the lead, do not even want to consider the other options to solve the situation without moving her, which is actually demanded to be tried out first according to the European Union habitat directive, this is the only alternative left unless we want to gamble with her being killed sooner or later by the EPA. Gambling it, fighting each new demand by EPA to kill her, is also stressing Susi since they keep tracking her down. There are helicopters and scooters around her for this.

There isn't much will from the top rulers, the politicians ruling our country and thereby dictatorially forcing the EPA to decisions favoring their personal and political agendas. These egoistic agendas are take precedence over a lot of lives, lives that have to suffer and die.

Susi will be moved to the mid region of Sweden. This time she will be put in an enclosure to try to acclimate her to her new region before setting her free, thereby possibly getting her to stay in that area and not once again move back to the same area where she’s at atm.

To a great extent this petition has pressured the Swedish authorities and politicians to come up with a solution that does not involve killing Susi, unless they don't kill her in the sedation and moving process (wouldn't surprise me if it is an intentional strategy).

Instead of continuing fighting for her to stay, and thereby standing a chance of losing the battle and getting her killed, we now at least have a chance of having her live a long and natural, hopefully much less stressful, life and get a few litters over the years. Litters with fresh genes most welcome to the Swedish wolf population.

I will inform you all when the next step of the moving process is taken, when it all starts.

Please do KEEP SIGNING, as this is not over by a long shot. We need to keep the international community watching this and have the petition growing, for.ex. in case Susi wanders back to same area again and we have to start fighting for her once more.

Update March 14, 2013:

She was today captured and sedated. Veterinarians were present to monitor Susi’s condition. She was reported to be in good health, with a weight of 38kg which according to the veterinarian is a normal weight for a Wolf of this size. She was considered being fit to be moved. A 22 hour car journey awaits her to a location 1000km south of her territory. This is of course one more of the continuously, just about on a daily basis, torturous experiences she is forced to endure throughout the last several months.

Update March 15, 2013:

Today Susi arrived at her new destination which turned out to be in the Stockholm area, the capital of Sweden, but outside of the main city. It’s a demonstrative approach by the government since the propaganda by the ruling politicians that are hunters, and the hunters associations, always claim that only big city people want Wolves.

The preferred solution, advised by expertise, to release Susi into a larger fenced area to have her adapt to her new environment before releasing her completely free had been discarded by the Department of Agriculture which is the deciding authority on these issues. We have had a couple of Wolves moved about a month ago and those were put in a fenced area before being release and they have stayed in that area since their full release showing that it radically improves the chances for the Wolves to stay locally. Of course this is once again most probably a tactic by our top politicians to increase the chances that she wanders back the +500km to her territory giving them the excuse to kill her.

Sweden’s top politician in all matters concerning agriculture, and therefore the ruler of the Department of Agriculture, is a minister called Eskil Erlandsson and he’s, just as our Environmental minister Lena Ek, an avid hunter and full supporter of the extreme views of the hunters associations, in fact Eskil Erlandsson used to be the president of the largest and main hunters association, the Swedish Hunters Association, which is a very powerful lobbying group in the parliament and they do not want any predators at all. He is also the minister responsible for questions regarding the Reindeer industry.

Susi has now been fitted with a collar that will fall off after a month, mainly because of all the complaints against a collar since we know that she very easily develops a rash under it which can lead to painful skin conditions. Susi was released in an area said to be roamed by a male Wolf and we all are of course hoping that this is true and that she will accept him as a partner, but that is not likely. Wolves just don’t pick any partner, and she does love her territory up north. Susi is a true fighter and will most probably wander up to her territory again which will please the government giving them the excuse they so much are hoping for.

Update March 18, 2013:

Today we found out that this amazing Wolf has once again turned back to her home, her territory in northern Sweden. It’s a long +500km walk in the snow for her. She only travels at night time and covers over 30km each day. Daytime Susi stays in hiding and rests.

She has amazed researchers with her endurance and her will. Sedated and move wolves normally need about 2 days to get their strength back before being able to resume a normal daily routine. Susi started walking back home as soon as she was released. WHAT a tough cookie she is. Got to love her tenacity. She’s just amazing. But this love of hers to her chosen territory is her death sentence. This is what the Swedish government was hoping for and knew was going to happen. Now they will have the excuse they so longed for to kill her. Again, the only thing wrong she’s done is to have chosen to live in a country that hates her for being a wolf no matter how timid she is, and she is very timid, and no matter how beautiful and important she is.

Update March 19, 2013:

Susi decided to stay around today in a region north of Tierp. She actually turned around heading south for a while but probably just a hunting decision or following some scent.

Update March 20, 2013:

She is back on her tracks to her beloved home again, and at the same pace.

Update March 24, 2013:

Up until now she has been travelling at a pace of around 30km per night, passing highways, walking over thin ice on lakes, and swimming across rivers, to get home. Suddenly after the 20:th, when she was just south of Gävle, she started moving at a pace of almost 100km per day. She is now very near her home, currently around Kramfors.

Update March 31, 2013:

Susi is finally back on the same spot she was captured and move from.

- She has returned exactly 15 days after having been moved to Stockholm county.

- She started her trip without wasting any time and that is exceptional for a wolf since they usually need a couple of days to recuperate after a sedation and a move like hers.

- She returned to her exact spot where she was captured 15 days ago and that on the same day Jesus resurrected. Believer or not, maybe she’s more special than any of us want to acknowledge. Maybe a sign  :)

- She had her tracking collar drop off automatically today. Some believe it's because it came off when she killed a reindeer.

Susi has crossed dangerous icy rivers, highways, and cities with a strong willed determination to get back to only place she sees as her home. What a gal she is.

As soon as she got home the EPA went out and announced in media that she can now be shot in self defence if she attacks a reindeer, which is a kind of an exhortation to take her out under such pretext. This is in violation of the EU laws which Sweden has time and time again shown to completely disregard with the current government.

Update April 23, 2013:

A ruling from the court, Förvaltningsdomstolen, will be delivered in a few days about her destiny. But seeing that snow is gone which renders bad tracking abilities for the ones who love killing wolves and especially Susi, and that the reindeer herders have moved their deers for the season, has prompted the NVV authority to state that there will be no kill hunt on Susi initiated by them.

Do remember that NVV has already, in no straight words, informed everyone that killing her in a spur of the moment, under certain protective circumstances, will have their blessing.

Update May 28, 2013:

After my last update there have been a lot of proceedings back and forth.

A Sami community had demanded she be killed as soon as she returned to her territory.

The government gave them the go ahead and at the same time released a press release now changing their view on her and unsubstantiated suddenly claiming she had maybe killed up to 4 times the amount of deer (160 deer) they had previously stated, all in a drive to discredit this wolf as much as possible to get public opinion on their side.

Wildlife, predator, and nature organisations together protested the decision and very quickly (minutes) appealed the decision. This has to be done immediately or else the government will have killed her within minutes of the decision. They have hunters, scooters, helicopters and everything else possible ready to hunt a wolf down.

After the appeal the court wanted to meet with both parties to have an open discussion. After the final discussion the court needed several weeks to make a decision and that decision came today.

The decision is fantastic. Not only did the court rule against killing Susi but they also gave a raging critique against the government agency for a long list of wrong doings and for not following the rules they themselves have set up.

You may read the court's decision here (Swedish):

http://domstol.se/Om-Sveriges-Domstolar/Pressrum/Nyheter-och-pressmeddelanden/Forvaltningsratten-upphaver-Naturvardsverkets-beslut-om-skyddsjakt-pa-vargtiken-i-Junsele1/

Google translation to English:

Press Release

The Administrative Court annuls the Environmental Protection Agency decision on culling of wolf bitch in Junselevägen

[2013-05-28] Administrative Court in Stockholm

Administrative Court rules in favor of a judgment, appeals from the Association Nordulv, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and the Swedish Society for Predators. The ruling means that the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to cull suspended.

Management's opinion, the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to cull not meet the criteria for an exception from the prohibition on killing wolves. The exemption shall be applied strictly and the Environmental Protection Agency who has the burden of proving all the requirements of the exemption are met.

There are other suitable solutions, which should have been tried instead of culling. In addition, EPA has not shown that culling after the current wolf bitch with eastern origin would not hamper the unfavorable conservation status of the species or prevent the restoration of a favorable conservation status of the Scandinavian wolf population. Environmental Protection Agency's decision does not meet the requirement for it to be serious injury.

The criteria for granting culling is therefore not fulfilled. At the end of the appeals and upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's decision set aside.

Update September 29, 2013:

Sweden is now CLEARLY moving towards a predator free country. A major step in that direction was taken last week when the government proclaimed a new predator policy which in practice can reduce the total amount of predators (wolves, eagles, bears, wolverines, lynxes) with over half.

5000 out of our total amount of 8000 predators may now be killed.

A major change also is that the government now does not listen to experts on the subject, but instead takes decision on conservation based on the hunters and Sami leaders demands, two enormously powerful lobbying groups.

Hunters and their associations are the most powerful groups in Sweden and the only ones allowed to have their own club in the Parliament house.

They get subsidiaries from the politicians and the politicians in turn get to attend the hunting course and get their license during working hours. The politicians then get VIP access to hunting areas and hunting schedules.

With this government's constant change to wildlife management it's now also much easier for anyone to kill any of these predator species without any real control or demands from cattle owners or hunters. All you have to claim is that you had to protect yourself or your dog/cat/etc to be allowed to immediately kill the predator.

These are the numbers decided upon by the Swedish government, and without ANY consultation with experts in the fields.

This is what the Predators Bill proposes:

-  The wolf population is now at about 350 individuals. Proposed to be at 170 individuals.

-  Bear population is currently at about 3,300 individuals. Proposed to be at 1,100 individuals.

-  The population of the wolverine is now on about 750. Proposed to be at 500.

-  The population of lynx is currently at around 1,650. Proposed to be at 700.

-  Golden eagles counted in pairs is now 600. Proposed to be at 150.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD about how MAD Sweden is in regards to wildlife and nature conservation.

Update December 2, 2013:

Sami reindeer herders are now trying for the pitty card in media. They complain about not liking to be portrayed as wolf killers. The reindeer herder is saying that “it’s fucked up that we have to move our reindeers because of a wolf”, and continues “we too have to be able to live”.

As I, the petition creator, have said before, there are solutions that work to keep the reindeer herds safe. The reindeer herds of today are not traditional ones but industrial ones with such large herds that they destroy the forests vegetation and are so huge that they need helicopters and scooters to control them. Keeping more traditional sizes and utilizing the many different successfully proven methods is the only solution that should be accepted.

Here is the article about the sob story from this industrial reindeer herder and the County Board official:

Swedish = http://allehanda.se/start/solleftea/1.6493672-vargen-ar-kvar-oro-bland-samer

English google translation = http://translate.google.se/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fallehanda.se%2Fstart%2Fsolleftea%2F1.6493672-vargen-ar-kvar-oro-bland-samer

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I will keep this petition open as I believe keeping it up will continue to put the pressure on the Swedish government, and it will keep the world society informed and alert to the disastrous conditions for predators in Sweden.