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Best Version Media, LLC. recording six singles match victories overall and two conference wins were ranked 19 th in the ITA Division II men's tennis rankings We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it OK Privacy policy Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article migrationMore than a hundred volunteers are searching the Finnish wilds for wolf droppings for researchers to analyse Open image viewerUrpo Tolonen is one of the volunteers who together have provided researchers with almost 700 samples of wolf droppings have so far Image: Toni Pitkänen / YleYle News11.2.2021 12:20As a local game liaison officer for the Finnish Wildlife Agency in Pielavesi Urpo Tolonen is accustomed to recognising and following animal tracks Tolonen has spent two days following old wolf tracks "I've done almost everything related to hunting but this is a completely new one," he grins Tolonen's trek in the snowy forest is part of a project coordinated by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and the Finnish Wildlife Agency to seek out wolf droppings in the wild Over 100 volunteers have wandered the forests since last August filling plastic bags with any wolf faeces they can find Open image viewerWolf droppings are usually found by following tracks Image: Toni Pitkänen / YleElk fur and bone fragmentsWhen volunteers come across animal droppings that they suspect are wolf faeces they bag the samples along with information about the time and place collected Tolonen holds up three bags of droppings he's found in Pielavesi "You can see elk fur and bone fragments that are typically found in wolf droppings," he explains The faeces in one bag are darker than the others this is the result on the wolf having ingested blood Open image viewerThe size of a wolf can be estimated from its tracks Image: Toni Pitkänen / Yle"It is usually a sign that the wolf had brought down fresh game," he says Tolonen is enthusiastic about collecting droppings it is possible to identify an individual wolf the collection project has yielded 698 samples collected by 113 volunteers According to Natural Resources Institute research engineer Antti Härkälä the result is good when compared to the 817 samples obtained a year earlier He estimates that at the current steady pace the size of the sample collection will exceed last year's haul Open image viewerMeri Lindqvist urges volunteers to keep samples frozen throughout the collection chain Image: Päivi Leppänen / YleSamples found from different parts of the country are being analysed at the Centre of Evolutionary Applications of the University of Turku According to research coordinator Meri Lindqvist the analysis of the samples is often challenging since they contain relatively little wolf DNA Lindqvist is urging volunteers to take care that the droppings are kept frozen throughout the collection and delivery process "Heat degrades the quality of DNA in these samples Frozen samples are the most welcome," she notes Open image viewerFrozen samples being examined at the University of Turku Only a small amount of fecal matter is needed for DNA analysis less emotionDNA results obtained from the droppings are being used in wolf population monitoring monitoring was mainly done by collaring wolves and releasing them back into the wild The DNA results are also utilised in the institute's wolf population assessment, which is published annually every summer Some hunters have questioned these estimates in the past there should be indisputable information forthcoming Open image viewerUrpo Tolonen hopes that DNA sampling will improve relations between hunters and the Natural Resources Center Image: Toni Pitkänen / YleUrpo Tolonen hopes that DNA samples could help to narrow the gap between hunters and the Natural Resources Institute "This situation should be be approached with reason and not emotion This would give us the best possible result," he says Wolf population growing especially in western Finland, 25% more packs than last yearPublished 20202020Prosecutor files charges against wolf-dog hybrid breedersPublished 20202020Sources: Yle The Flyers battled the Greyhounds hard but could not secure the victory and finished their season with a loss Finland/Emmanuel College) / Roberto Leal (Maracay Venezuela/Colegio San José) (LU) defeated Matthieu Derache / David Simeonov (UINDY) 7-5 2 Uzbekistan/Uzbekistan State University of Physical Education & Sports).. Open image viewerMost of the remains were disinterred from graves in the cemetery of a ruined church in Pälkäne in 1873 Image: Kirsi Matson-Mäkelä / YleYle News19.10.2021 15:57•Updated 19.10.2021 16:06Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture is preparing an official request for the repatriation of human remains removed from abandoned churchyard cemeteries in Finland nearly 150 years ago and shipped to Sweden for race studies which are still held in the collection of Stockholm's Karolinska Institute were taken from the cemetery of a ruined church in Pälkäne in Finland's Pirkanmaa region in 1873 Some of the remains are from graves in the cemeteries of parish churches in Eno the Karolinska Institute issued an apology for their removal from Finland but has not returned the remains despite numerous requests from organisations and private individuals Senior Ministerial Adviser at Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture told Swedish public radio last weekend that the remains are to be re-interred where they were excavated If the cemetery where they were taken from is no longer in use the remains will be buried in the current cemeteries of the parishes from which they were taken who has filed a formal written question with the government about the issue says that repatriation will be examined again this autumn Efforts to convince the Karolinska Institute to return the remains