ABSTRACT
Wolf conflict manifests in illegal killing that is a sign of socio-politically determined defiance of the authorities and dissent from conservation policies. It is expressed also in a rejection of the regulations, in the form of passive behaviour or in a support that community members give to hunting violators. The research in Finland has addressed illegal acts in the context of such sociopolitical lawlessness. The research has been based on the theory of defiance of authorities and theory of neutralization to show how rural life is defended via the justification of illegal acts, and to assess the impact of rural protest as manifested in expressions of self-justification. In addition, the rhetorical attitude theory has been utilized to show how local people take a stand in a conflict situation where they are set up in a relationship between the social sphere and their personal life world. Local defiance may be non-communicative in nature, but nevertheless, it sends a strong signal to policy makers. There is a need to elaborate approaches that take into consideration primordial stakeholders, strong emotional drivers and basic human needs. Legitimation of local knowledge and emotions seem inevitable in the process of endorsement of large carnivore conservation and management.
