Law Abiding Citizens On Popular Support for the Illegal Killing of Wolves

• Published in: Nature and culture Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 191 - 214
• Main Authors: Krange, Olve, von Essen, Erica, Skogen, Ketil
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Berghahn Books, Inc 01.06.2022
• Subjects: Animal populations; anti-elitism; Climate change; Control; Crime; crimes of dissent; Criminology; Denialism; Dissent; Elitism; Environmental aspects; Hunting; illegal killing of wolves; Killing; Laws, regulations and rules; Legitimacy; Management; Murders & murder attempts; nature management; Organized crime; Poaching; Politics; Population studies; Resistance; Rural areas; Social aspects; Wildlife conservation; Wildlife management; Wolf hunting; Wolves; Xenophobia; Norway
• ISSN: 1558-6073; 1558-5468; 1558-5468
• DOI: 10.3167/nc.2022.170204

Conflicts over wolf management are a stable feature of Norwegian public debate. In some segments of the population, nature management, and especially predator management, have a very low legitimacy. A strong expression of these controversies is the illegal killing of wolves, a practice sufficiently extensive to impact wolf population size. In several studies, the killing of wolves is interpreted as politically motivated resistance/crime of dissent. This study contributes to the research field by examining the support for such illegal actions. We ask if the Norwegian public find such illegal actions to be acceptable or not. Analysis shows that acceptance joins a broader pattern of controversies, expressed by phenomena such as xenophobia, climate change denial, anti-elitism, and low confidence in institutions working to preserve nature.