Today’s big topic: Wolves behaving entirely normally now have a target on their fur
What’s happening?
The country’s leading wolf researchers recently took a close look at 13 encounters between wolves and people around Oksbøl in western Jutland, and arrived at the following conclusion: It was a single young wolf displaying troubling behavior, approaching people in different places, following them and coming within a few meters of them. The wolf had presumably lost its natural wariness because it had been fed by humans-
In a memo, the researchers concluded that the wolf did not pose a danger to people, but they also wrote that if the authorities wanted to take action against the protected animal in the area, they should target this one problem wolf. Potentially by scaring it off and teaching it that humans are dangerous. Or, as a last resort, by having the wolf shot.
Since then, 11 private individuals have been granted permission to cull wolves in a zone of roughly 300 square kilometers. But now a wall of criticism is rising against the agency that has authorized the cull.
Why it matters!
It is far from just a single wolf that risks being shot and killed due to the granted permission to cull. Wolves behaving entirely in accordance with their nature now also, figuratively speaking, have a target on their fur and risk being killed, even though they are in no way seeking out people.
»Wolves with normal behavior can be taken down«, says the wolf researcher Peter Sunde, a professor at the Department of Ecoscience at Aarhus University.
At the heart of the case are the conditions for regulation – that is, shooting – a wolf. A private citizen is allowed to shoot a wolf that comes within 30 meters of a person on the land covered by the permit. That applies even if the person has a dog with them, which can otherwise make wolves curious and more likely to approach.
The citizen is also allowed to shoot wolves that are more than 30 meters away on selected parcels. Here, nighttime hunting is permitted; the hunter may use lights, mirrors, and other lighting equipment as well as thermal devices. Shots may also be fired within 50 meters of homes, and the hunter may shoot from a hide in a car, cabin, or house. The question, critics say, is how hunters, at long distance, are supposed to be able to determine whether the wolf is a problem wolf before they pull the trigger and bring it down – and how they can document that judgment.
Still curious? Read the full article here.
In other news
– Beer researchers have uncovered hops’ deepest secret
An international research team led by the two women has, for the first time in the world, mapped the hop plant’s DNA in the finest detail. It is such a major achievement that the news was published this week in the respected scientific journal Nature Communications. »In 1992, we mapped the yeast genome. In 2017, we mapped the barley genome. And now we have succeeded in mapping the hop genome. Those are the three key ingredients in beer. You could say we have completed beer’s testament«, Birgitte Skadhauge, Research Director at Carlsberg Laboratory says.
The hop plant is under pressure from today’s climate change, as some of the world’s most important growing regions are grappling with higher temperatures, drought, and more erratic weather. The researchers hope that by mapping the hop genome, they can identify the gene variants that the most drought-resistant hop varieties use to cope with higher temperatures and drought.
Read the full story here.
– Old shipyard buildings to become the linchpin of a major new Copenhagen neighborhood
The B&W shipyard on Refshaleøen closed in 1996. Since then, the northern tip of Amager has developed into Copenhagen’s hip district and a haven. Yesterday, the new plans for redevelopment and expansion of the entire area were laid out, aiming to grow Refshaleøen into a neighborhood with at least 12,000-15,000 residents. The emphasis is that old indiustrial buildings should, to as large a degree as possible, be preserved or converted, so they remain an active part of the new neighborhood.
Read the full story here.
– No parties benefit from the long government negotiations, but one party has melted down
After nine weeks of government negotiations – first to one side, then the other, and then back again – voters have been the ones left standing still. At least according to the first Megafon poll since the election, conducted for Politiken and TV 2. It shows a result that, by and large, resembles the election outcome.
But not quite for the man holding the decisive mandates—courted and reviled in equal measure throughout the talks, Lars Løkke Rasmussen. His party, Moderaterne, is the party experiencing the second-largest decline since the election, only exceeded by Borgenes Parti, who have shrunk to just one MP since the election. Løkke’s party has lost 1.5 percentage points, according to the poll. But according to an election researcher, it could be larger if an S-SF-R-M government is formed. One party that can be well satisfied with the poll is SF, which, with growth of 1.5 percentage points, apparently is not being punished by its voters for openly courting its old enemy, Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Talk of town: Lena Dunham is the voice of her generation. What happens if you listen to it?
You don’t get to choose your generation, and a generation doesn’t get to choose its spokespeople.
When Lena Dunham made the HBO series ’Girls’, which ran from 2012 to 2017, something happened that the main character, Hannah, played by Dunham herself, reverently tells her parents in the first scene:
»I think I might be the voice of my generation«.
The millennial generation had its slogan.
Because that’s what millennials are like. An entire generation where each individual believes they are the voice. Or at least get an acceptance letter for the wizarding school of Hogwarts.
Now Lena Dunham has turned 40 and published her memoir ’Famesick’, and the book feels like direct psychoanalytic access to Generation Y – those born roughly between 1980 and 1996 (the 30- to 45-year-olds).
So that’s what Felix Thorsen Katzenelson is doing in this essay. Using Dunham, her series and her book, and the culture of the moment, to read a generation. Because signs of self-erasing use of power are everywhere once you start looking for millennial influence.
Generation Y has so much to say and little to do. And one thing in common. Some kind of opinion on Lena Dunham, making her the perfect springboard for a reflection on the characteristics of an entire generation.
This newsletter features stories originally published in Danish. AI was used to shorten and translate the articles into English, after which a member of the editorial staff reviewed and refined the content.