MejlaIngvar Persson+ FÖLJÅSIKTNu are the wolves in Kolmarden bortaDebatten of large carnivores is bound to continue Aftonbladet leader board independent social democratic.Photo: Junge, Heiko / NTB SCANPIX TT NYHETSBYRÅNLEDARE

a few weeks ago killing the last wolf in the area of Kolmården. The animals had become old and djurparksledningen announced in early november that there will not be any new residents in the enclosure.
For the zoo, it is an era ending, but maybe have the wolves at Kolmården also been a picture of our view of nature and environmental protection.

Until June 2012 was the wolves attend a high profile gala part of the whole Kolmården brand. They attracted visitors, but they also represented the idea of the zoo as a part of the fight for the planet’s survival.

Tragic accident

Then occurred the tragic arbetsplatsolyckan in the enclosure for the socialized wolves. The pack killed a young woman, one of the guides that used to bring visitors in to the animals.

If the accident was the journalist and author Lars Berge written a fabulous book, Vargattacken. It is, as all really good stories, full of insights.

Vargattacken can be read as a book about our strange relationship to nature, where the dolphins and wolves captured in artificial environments, may represent a yearning for something original. The book is also a story of modern Sweden, where the mining and textile mills are being replaced by Betist an increasingly commercialized adventure tourism.

a Lot of wolves

Berges story is also a portrayal of a fascinating and mythical animals. You learn a lot about wolves.

Above all, however, is Vargattacken a harrowing depiction of a tragic workplace injury, on the practices that is lacking, and how easy a group driven by a common passion can turn a blind eye to the warning signs.

the Picture that emerges is that the accident of 2012 should never have got to occur. The wolves had appeared threatening in the past. And international experts who were called in for the trial which followed on the accident, did not believe that a pack of wolves should be managed in the manner that took place in Kolmården.

that didn’t stop the zoo keepers regularly had gone out to the wolves alone, without the ability to call for help. Or that groups of visitors were invited in the wolf enclosure, for a fee of course.

There will be an explanation for the tragedy.

A dangerous idea

another is perhaps about the conviction. Berge shows that, behind the Kolmården vargsatsning was a strong idea, almost a credo. The wolves could simply not be dangerous to humans. The resistance against the wild wolves in the Swedish countryside was all about ignorance and prejudice.

To acknowledge that it had lost control of the flock would have shaken the whole idea of a harmonious relation to large predators in the wild. Immediately after the fatal accident, was worried actually the park’s zoological director of ”wolf brand”.

Let us hope that it was due to the shock.

Now there are no longer any wolves at Kolmarden. But the debate about large carnivores place in our nature is bound to continue.