Nature

Anna-Reetta Mikkonen’s home farm Kiviapajalla has dairy cattle, forest and rented cottages. Mikkonen found a marriage candidate in this year’s Maajussille bride programme.

Mikkonen is the mother of a 3-year-old child and she works on her home farm in Kiviapajala. Mikkonen was looking for a partner who would share her everyday life and farm work.

– It’s not an easy equation when you combine farming, having a child and finding a life partner. I thought, if I don’t dare to sign up for the programme at this stage, when will I dare?” asks Mikkonen.

Mikkonen says he has no regrets about participating in the programme.

– The experience was amazing, very different compared to what everyday life is like normally. It’s not usual for three lovely men to show up here on the farm for a week.

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Anna-Reetta, who returned to her farm, found a husband in a TV show – “It’s hard to combine farming, having a child and finding a life partner”Read More »

15 teams and 132 hunters will take part in the Small Game Hunting World Championship in Suomussalmi, Kainuu. The event has gone off without a hitch.

The Small Game Trapping Championships, which caused a stir earlier this month, continued on Saturday in Suomussalmi, Kainuu. The event is a competition to see which team can kill the most small carnivores within the time limit.

The race has gone off without a hitch.

The competition will involve 15 teams and 132 hunters. Catches have been scarce, with a dozen animals caught by Saturday afternoon. Last year, the competition caught around 40 small predators.

The Suomussalmi Championship competition is supervised by batch supervisors and other authorities in the area.

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The controversial small carnivore competition has gone off without a hitch – with only a small amount of preyRead More »

Bird flu hit Finland last year on an unprecedented scale. This year, the number of cases has been lower, but the disease has been detected all year round.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, virus researchers have already begun to prepare for future pandemics.

Perhaps the biggest threat is considered to be avian flu.

As the name suggests, the virus is easily transmitted to birds and has killed scores of birds across Europe in the last couple of years.

The disease reached Finland in 2016, after which a quiet period followed, when no infections were found. Last year it spread almost like wildfire. The Food Agency investigating bird flu recorded more than 60 cases.

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Avian influenza is spreading unprecedentedly and has invaded Finland, but no signs of spread to mammals have been detectedRead More »

On Friday, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry held a press conference in Utsjoki to explain the necessity of the ban on salmon fishing in the Teno. Locals believe that the total ban is unfair in many ways.

On Friday, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry presented the Natural Resources Institute’s report on the state of salmon stocks in the Teno River in Utsjoki. The stocks are still at a low level due to, among other things, heavy fishing pressure along the coast and in the fjords.

The salmon fishing ban has allowed a slight increase in spawning stocks during this and last year. However, the wild salmon stock is not expected to recover next year.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has proposed an extension of the ban on trawling in the Teno River. The ban will start at the beginning of June and last until the end of the year.

Local fishermen and the municipality of Utsjoki wonder why Tenojoki is the only one that is regulated to save salmon. According to Utsjoki, Norwegians should also participate in the fishing ban talks.

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Utsjoki wants a Salmon Centre to compensate for the Teno salmon fishing ban – Norwegians are also asked to join the ban talksRead More »

The Ministry and Metsähallitus say they understand the concerns raised by the word competition. The controversial organiser plans to cancel the competitions in future, even if the hunting event continues.

The Small Game Trapping Championships, which caused a stir just over two weeks ago, start today in Suomussalmi.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, a lot of feedback has been sent to the Ministry about the organisation of the Small Game Shooting Championships.

– Finnish hunting culture is not about competing on the quantity of prey, much less about killing or making killing fun,” says Ruusila.

No ban on the event, veterinary surgeon called to the scene

Although there have been demands to ban the competition, the Animal Welfare Act does not provide grounds for banning the event in advance, says Vesa Ruusila, head of the ministry’s batch unit.

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Controversial small game trapping championship starts today in Suomussalmi – event will not be bannedRead More »

The extension covers just over 2,400 hectares. It will bring new areas under protection and provide new opportunities for recreational use of the area.

The proposal to extend the Tiilikkajärvi National Park in Rautavaara is now before Parliament. The Government has submitted a draft Government bill for the extension of the national park, which covers 2,441 hectares.

Tiilikkajärvi National Park, located in the municipalities of Rautavaara and Sotkamo, currently covers an area of 3,450 hectares. The extension area includes, among other things, old natural forest and valuable bogs. Almost 1300 hectares of forestry land will be protected.

The extension also aims to promote recreational use between the existing area of the national park, the Pumpkin Church forests and the Youth Centre Metsäkartano.

Game management associations in Kyyjärvi and the surrounding area have organised collection points and are sending the moose heads to the Food Authority for examination. A moose head was also sent from Perho for examination.

The suspicion of a rare animal disease has triggered an extraordinary operation in ten game management associations.

When preliminary investigations revealed the presence of TSE in a deer shot in Kyyjärvi in central Finland, the need for further investigations was identified and the Food Authority asked the game management associations to examine deer heads.

More than 20 heads from the weekend’s moose hunt have already been sent to the Agency’s laboratories in Seinäjoki or Kuopio.

The final confirmation of Kyjærve’s disease case will be available next week.

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The Food Authority asked to test elk heads for TSE – hunters already submitted twenty samples from the weekend huntRead More »

Metsähallitus stresses that the preservation of the open sand dunes of Vattaja requires continuous management and support funds. In recent years, the area has received a lot of support.

This summer, significant discoveries of endangered insects in Central Ostrobothnia have been made at Vattajanniemi in Lohtaja.

Vattajaniemi is a rare area even by European standards. It has 15 kilometres of sandy beaches, protected dune habitats and rare species.

In the nature reserve, Metsähallitus found the sawfly, a butterfly that is disappearing from Finland due to the encroachment of open sandy areas.

In addition, sand beetles were found in three sheep pastures.

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Endangered insect species found in a nature reserve that had been missing for decades – Metsähallitus: successful management measuresRead More »

The permit for the Saunajärvi area covered eight wolf packs and the permit for the Liminka-Temme area covered two. The permits were issued on the basis of herd management.

The Administrative Court of Northern Finland has ruled on the wolf derogation permits granted by the Finnish Game Centre in Kuhmo and Liminka-Temme last year. It ruled that the permits had been wrongly granted.

The Administrative Court of Northern Finland issued an interim decision prohibiting the implementation of the derogations granted for wolf pack areas. The Finnish Game Centre granted the derogations at the end of December 2021.

The permit for the Saunajärvi area covered eight wolf packs and the permit for the Liminka-Temme area covered two. The permits were issued on the basis of herd management.

Klemetti says that during the past autumn there have been dogs in the wolf’s mouth. A permit application is planned to be submitted if permits are to be applied for.

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Administrative Court: wolf permits for Liminka-Temme and Kuhmo Saunajärvi were wrongly grantedRead More »

The city does not have the resources to increase the number of areas to be maintained.

In Hämeenlinna, a council initiative for a hiking trail in Kutalanpuisto will remain unrealised, at least for the time being.

During the official hearing of the initiative, it was stated that the city does not have the resources to increase the number of areas to be maintained, so the initiative to build a park is unlikely to fit into the investment programme for the coming years.

Instead, the city will, if necessary, renovate the existing trail and boat ramps near the Kutala River.

In the initiative, a new Kutalanpuisto was proposed on the shore of Lake Katumajärvi, where there would be a barrier-free route, signposts, rest benches and a barbecue area.

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Council initiative for an outdoor recreation area in Kutalanpuisto does not move forward in HämeenlinnaRead More »