A Bit of a Howler

Plucky little Scandinavians are defying the beastly Brusso-Strasbourg dictatorship in the most British way possible, by slaughtering an endangered species. Across five per cent of Norway, protection of wolves is a priority; therefore the other nineteen-twentieths is to be considered a free-fire zone because wolves prey on game animals. While it is unlikely that Norwegian hunters quite measure up to the blooded and chin-free of merry England, the motivation - killing animals in order to kill animals - is about as British as could be wished. Equally reminiscent of the master race is the concern with the rule of law in its purely technical aspects: extinction is to be avoided therefore anything short of extinction is fine therefore keeping wolf populations on the brink of extinction is as laudable as it is more or less legal. Sweden and Finland are following suit, despite their membership of the ghastly EU, which has undoubtedly crippled their ability to make international trade agreements and thereby increased their dependence on moose meat. Modelling by Finnish scientists indicates that a genetically healthy wolf population would require more than five hundred individuals; Finland has a population of about three hundred, of which twenty are to be culled so as to encourage the evolution of a wolf with sufficient intelligence, cunning and social skills to rival the British establishment.