Comments on: Rewilding Scotland: Would you visit a wilder Scotland?

By: Keith MacDonald

Keith MacDonald — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 20:21:52 +0000

Have people forgotten that there was an era in Britain (not too many centuries ago) when a wolf or a wild boar could seriously interrupt your sleep, or worse, if you were camping overnight in open countryside?

Perhaps we should start a “Bring Back The Brochs” campaign as well? So that we can offer walkers and tourists places that are safe and protected, to hid them from the rewilded and devouring beasties?

By: Joseph McNabb

Joseph McNabb — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 03:22:19 +0000

Even in the USA, in a nearby protected National Park, the re-introduction of the native red wolf has not gone well. This has not been so much a fault of preparation or of the habitat, but of the seeming inability of the wolves to adapt to an environment not like that in which they were taught to survive by their “birth pack.”
In the same period as the red wolf introduction, the population of the native black bear has increased to the point the the Tennessee Department of Wildlife Services has introduced a limited area hunting season in the populous Knox County, home of the University of Tennessee.
At the conclusion of any measured disoourse of the merits, all may come to a quotation from a “Survival Anglia” televised program: “Man does not easily tolerate the presence of other predators.”

By: Keith MacDonald

Keith MacDonald — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 13:04:08 +0000

Gently extracting the micturation, here’s the plot for the film:

A Scottish entrepeneur (played by Richard Attenborough) starts a Rewilded Tourist Theme Park, stocked with bears, wolves, boars, lynx and other predators. Don’t get out of the car or leave the windows open. What could possibly go wrong? Sure enough, some Sassanach Tourists get chewed to pieces, and the children are lost in the grant-maintained forest. Cue the rescue squad (played by Sam Neil and Jeff Goldblum). As a side plot, some bad guy with a wind farm that’s being killing raptors comes to a nasty-but-kharmic end when he gets chewed up by his own wind turbine blades.

By: Susan McIntosh

Susan McIntosh — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 23:40:57 +0000

Indeed Amanda. Here in Colorado a quick politically motivated decision was made to reintroduce lynx to the state a few years ago. So the Colorado Department of Wildlife kidnapped a number of lynx from Canada and brought them down to Colorado and released them shortly after arrival. It was mid winter and it just so happened that the snowshoe hare population in that part of Colorado was in decline. Canadian lynx are snowshoe hare obligates. Every one of those lynx died of starvation.

Regarding wolves: In the U.S. ranchers and wolf opponents always said that they would murder introduced wolves. In the case of the Mexican wolf project along the Arizona – New Mexico border, wolf opponents very efficiently hacked into the animal’s collars, tracked them and killed every one of the first wolves planted there.

I agree with your ranger Amanda – reintroduction of a long gone species is no small thing and will have enormous implications for a range of species. The important thing to know is we don’t know it all and we cannot predict all of the consequences of the natural resource management that we dabble with.

By: Amanda Moffet

Amanda Moffet — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 17:29:59 +0000

From speaking to a ranger he explained how delicately and respectfully animals need to be re-introduced, has to be done completely in the right order so they have something to eat that is not going to effect other animals and something is there to eat them. Can be devastating for the environment if something like a mink was introduced. Suppose the danger is the ‘popular’ animals are introduced too early. Hear the beavers are doing really well.

By: rodger moffet

rodger moffet — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 13:25:00 +0000

I have to be honest and say I’m in two minds about this. A few years back there was a landowner who was trying to reintroduce wolves onto his estate, however it didn’t look as if he was particularly motivated by environmental causes and seemed keener to use it to discourage people roaming on his land (not being used to large predators in the UK we are far more wary than our cousins across the pond). That being said deer can do a massive amount of damage, especially to young trees and the propensity of deer fencing in the highlands shows that.

Wolves would also suffer the same fate as our raptor bird population which get a lot of criticism from farmers and many blame crofters for bird poisonings. Ive spoken to crofters who have said that while large eagles can take a lamb from time to time its actually the crows that are far more vicious so its hard to judge. Also we would have to contend with illegal hunting as there are enough idiots around who would want to take down a wolf just like Cecil the lion

Nope still cant decide if its good or bad.