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Views on a wolf reintroduction


Reece
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Should wolves be reintroduced to Scotland?  

80 members have voted

  1. 1. Should there be a wolf reintroduction?

    • Yes
      29
    • No
      44
    • Undecided
      7


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Wolf reintroduction, kind of a nice idea but never going to happen, principally because of all the sheep they would eat.

 

Lynx is slightly more towards the realistic end of the scale, they would knock Roe back quite quickly without being the same kind of risk to livestock.

 

I would like to see wild boar introduced to certain areas, they fill an ecological niche that has been vacant now for many centuries. Beaver, yes please. Apart from that, well I always thought Elk would be good addition to the quarry list!

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Didn't they try this in Yellowstone National Park some years ago to control Elk,or some other over abundant grazing animal,following a ban on hunting them?The livestock owners objected but were ignored.Anyhow,as time went by,the Wolves bred,as they do,but forgot they weren't supposed to roam out of the park in search of new territories,the numbers of grazing Elk(?) fell,but then the Wolves found prey which wasn't as dangerous,and couldn't run as fast in herds(livestock)and then authorities were eventually forced to re-issue hunting permits,but not only for the Elk.

Sounds great in theory,but who controls the numbers?What happens when they spread,and discover dustbins?They have urban bears in N.America and Alaska,and that country is huge;we are very small island.Bears and wolves were persecuted out of existence in this country for a reason.

There again,perhaps we could ask Brian May to do the PR stuff.

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Some of you may be aware that there is talk about reintroducing wolves to Scotland. However, it is only talk, and there are no plans for a reintroduction at the moment. I thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss.

 

The main argument for a reintroduction is to control deer numbers, which are preventing natural regeneration of Scotland's native pine forest. For over a hundred years, the remnants of the forest has been shrinking. Deer eat all the young seedlings and old trees were dying without any young trees growing to replace them. The wolf's backers say that wolves would be a perfect natural method of controlling deer numbers, much more effective than culling, aiding woodland regeneration.

 

Opponents say that wolves should not be reintroduced because of the danger to farm livestock, which could become the preferred prey. Predators are designed by evolution to use as little energy as possible when finding a meal. Wolf attacks on humans, however, are extremely rare.

 

Personally, I am undecided. But what do Pigeon Watch members think of it all?

its a bit like swallowing a spider to catch a fly, what happens when the deer numbers are low and the wolf numbers high, we'll need something bigger and badder to eat the wolfs ect ect

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Why stop there ! let bring back lion and bears probably be best if start with reintroduction in kent that might just stop illegal coming through the tunnel :good:

 

 

 

Dave.

 

Not sure lions ever existed in Britain, except for possibly millions of years ago when the environment was completely different. So that would not be a "reintroduction".

There is no longer enough habitat over here to support a viable bear population.

 

A program on Sky a while ago covered a bloke who bought an estate up Scotland, & fenced it off.

 

IIRC, he shipped some Moose over, & had plans to re-introduce the Wolf, the owners of the neighbouring estates weren't concerned, & wished him the best of luck.

 

 

His name's Paul Lister I think, and the place is Alladale. The estate does have elk and also boar, if I remember rightly. But the wolf plan had to be abandoned for now because the fencing required to keep wolves break the right to roam act or something.

 

Wolf reintroduction, kind of a nice idea but never going to happen, principally because of all the sheep they would eat.

 

Lynx is slightly more towards the realistic end of the scale, they would knock Roe back quite quickly without being the same kind of risk to livestock.

 

I would like to see wild boar introduced to certain areas, they fill an ecological niche that has been vacant now for many centuries. Beaver, yes please. Apart from that, well I always thought Elk would be good addition to the quarry list!

 

Agree on boar and beavers. Go into a wood and usually, one plant species dominates. With the activities of boar, the ground flora is more diverse, and they also control bracken. Beavers are good habitat managers as well.

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I did see a program about some place in America and they was trying to get it back to how it was before the white man came and they put all of the animals that was there at the time and it was still not rite until someone said the only thing that is different is there was no Red Indians it was them that made the land what it was killing game and burning the brambles away to let the animals feed if just one link is missing and the whole picture changes.

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Not sure lions ever existed in Britain, except for possibly millions of years ago when the environment was completely different. So that would not be a "reintroduction".

There is no longer enough habitat over here to support a viable bear population.

 

 

 

The last lions were only around 13,000 years ago so not that long in the greater scheme of things and if you put something back to were it once was then I'm sure its "reintroduction".

 

 

Dave.

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Wolves are predators & if they predate some of the following Tony B.Liar , John Prescot , Paul McCartney ,Brian May , Tony Robinson ,

Bill Oddie , All the arrogant Ramblers asso members , some RSPB members , most of Parliament Scottish&English ! , All the League against cruel sports & Animal rights campaigners , & Mongrels ( know what I mean )

Then the dam wolves would be too FAT to catch sheep or deer ! . So bring em on !

 

Seriously it would be nice to bring all the animals we have lost back but Britain is a different place to what it was 500 years ago so I dout it will happen & I am undecided . :hmm:

Edited by Pole Star
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Fantastic idea. How about this. I have a bit of amber with a Mosquito in it. Hows about we get the DNA from the blood inside the Mosquito and mix it with ................. you know the story........lets get some REAL predators reintroduced onto this tiny island of ours. There's plenty of food here for them..

 

Then the rest of the World.. Just watch those petrol prices tumble when that happens..

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Everyone knows theres already wolves at large in the Far Northern Forests of Bonny Scotland...

 

http://uk.video.sear...qe&fr=yfp-t-702

 

Personally if its done in contained areas Im all for it...

 

Wolves dont target Humans and are generally timid animals in the wild often heard but rarely seen...or so I am led to believe.

 

Wolves do attack humans, but attacks are extremely rare. In parts of Europe, what to do if you find a wolf is common knowledge and this works very well. The main threat is to livestock. Apparently, there are deterrents available, some methods apparently very effective, such as livestock guarding dogs and something called fladry. Obviously I'm in no position to say for definite how effective they are.

Edited by Reece
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