A wolf was recently shot and killed north of Gran, on the border with Søndre Land. And once again, I'm left with the same question: Why is it that one of the world's richest and most technologically advanced countries still handles wolves in this manner?
It's 2026. We have artificial intelligence, drones, GPS tracking, thermal cameras, wildlife cameras, autonomous systems, and technology that would have seemed quite futuristic just a few years ago. Yet, our predator management often seems stuck in a completely different era.
A wolf appears. An alarm sounds. Conflict arises. And quite quickly, the solution becomes shooting it.
This is what I don't understand.
Norway has money, knowledge, research communities, and technology. We shouldn't be a country that only discusses how few wolves we can just get away with having. We should be the country that shows how modern technology can make it possible to have a much larger and healthier wolf population, while livestock and farmers receive better protection than they do today.
Because this should be possible now.
Drones with thermal cameras can monitor large grazing areas. AI can be trained to recognize movement patterns in wolves, sheep, and deer. GPS collars can alert when animals move abnormally, panic in groups, or approach areas with known predator activity. Virtual fences can guide livestock away from vulnerable areas. Autonomous systems can send alerts before damage occurs, not just document the loss afterward.
And this is not just about protecting the wolf. It's also about better protecting the sheep. Every year, large numbers of sheep are released into mountains and outfields, and many of them suffer and die from causes entirely unrelated to wolves. Some are hit by cars. Some drown. Some are taken by other predators. Some get sick, get injured, break bones, or lie for a long time before anyone finds them. If we are serious about animal welfare, technology should be used for this too.
Drones, GPS tracking, sensors, and AI-based alert systems can make it easier to detect animals that are injured, stuck, sick, or moving abnormally. This can give farmers quicker notice, reduce animal suffering, and provide a better overview of what is actually happening in the outfields. It should be a common goal, whether one is concerned with predator conservation, agriculture, or animal welfare.
Of course, this doesn't solve everything. Technology isn't magic. But it can make things much better, much faster. It can move us from a management that always reacts too late to a management that is actually proactive.
And that's where Norway should be.
We're not talking about a country full of wolves. Norway has a very small wolf population. In the winter of 2024–2025, 59–66 wolves were registered in Norway, and only 40–47 of them were entirely Norwegian. In a country the size of Norway, this is extremely small. Yet, it seems that every single wolf that moves into the wrong place is treated as a national crisis.
Meanwhile, there are far poorer countries that live side by side with much larger and more dangerous predators than wolves. Countries with lions, leopards, hyenas, bears, and elephants manage to have conservation projects, tourism, and agriculture simultaneously. It's not conflict-free there either, but it puts Norway in quite a bad light. We like to portray ourselves as world champions in nature, but we can barely manage to have a few dozen wolves without the rifle becoming the solution.
It's actually a bit embarrassing.
This is not just about the wolf "having the right to be here," although I believe it does. Nor is it just about international obligations. It's also about large predators having an important function in nature.
The wolf is not an ornament. It is not a symbol we can use in fairy tales and nature pictures, but preferably avoid encountering in reality. It is part of the ecosystem. Large predators affect the populations of deer and other prey animals. They often take weak and sick animals. They can contribute to healthier populations, less disease, less grazing damage, and better balance in nature.
When we remove apex predators, the cost doesn't disappear. It just shows up elsewhere. More deer, more pressure on forests and vegetation, more road accidents, more disease, and poorer ecological balance. Not having predators also has a cost.
We must also dare to speak honestly about sheep.
The sheep is a domestic animal that originally comes from completely different parts of the world. It is not evolved to live almost like a wild animal in Norwegian outfields during the summer. Nevertheless, we release large numbers of sheep into areas where we simultaneously say we should have predators. When things go wrong, the conclusion is often that the wolf is the problem. But perhaps the system is also the problem.
I don't mean that farmers should just be sacrificed. Of course not. People must be able to protect their livelihoods. If society wants more predators, society must also pay for the solutions. But then we actually have to create solutions. Not just compensate afterwards, shoot the wolf, and pretend the conflict is resolved.
And this is where technology comes in again.
Instead of getting stuck in the same old argument between sheep and wolves, Norway should gather researchers, farmers, technologists, wildlife managers, and animal welfare advocates around one practical question: How can we use modern technology to better protect both predators and livestock than we do today?
Perhaps some areas need more targeted supervision. Perhaps some need predator-proof fences. Perhaps some should receive support to change their operations. Perhaps we should use other animals, other grazing models, or more controlled forms of grazing in areas where the current system simply doesn't work. And perhaps AI, drones, and autonomous alert systems can make this far more realistic than it was just ten or twenty years ago.
This should be the big conversation.
Not just: How many wolves should we tolerate?
But: How many wolves could we actually manage to live with if we used our brains, our money, and the technology we already have?
Perhaps Norway could have hundreds of wolves. Perhaps in the long term, over a thousand. That probably sounds dramatic to many, but why should it actually be unthinkable? Not if we build the systems around it. Not if farmers receive real support. Not if technology is actively used. Not if we stop treating every wolf as a problem that needs to be removed, and start treating predators as a natural part of our country.
Norway could have been the country that showed the world how modern technology, agriculture, and predator management can work together. We could have had better protection for livestock, less conflict, stronger ecosystems, more nature-based tourism, and a wolf population we could actually be proud of.
Instead, we end up in the same old situation again and again.
A wolf appears. An alarm sounds. Weapons are brought out. The wolf is shot.
In 2026, Norway should be able to do better than that.