Poor Wolf

 

The-Wolfs-Footprint by Susan-Price

          Did you see the recent news story about the wolves that

escaped from Colchester Zoo?
          Five escaped. One turned round and went back to captivity immediately. One was darted and recaptured. Two were shot, and one, at time of writing, was still on the loose.
          What a great shame. Those wolves should have just been left alone to get on with it. They are, after all, native to Britain. And they were here before us.
          Osprey have been brought back, and Red Kites. Beavers have been re-introduced with great success. After all, if you want to preserve and maintain wet-land habitat, beavers are the lads to do it.
          Wolves and Brown Bears should be next. Those five wolves had voted with their paws, and should have been allowed to vanish into the 'thick undergrowth' in which the last escapee is said to be hiding, and begin the long climb-back.
          Who's with me on this? I know my partner isn't. This is one of the suggestions with which I annoy him on a regular basis. "That's just daft, Susie," he says. "You're just saying that to be contrary."
          But why not? Despite living in the Black Country, open countryside is quite near, and there are 'beware of deer' signs on those country roads. People who live out there complain of the deer destroying their gardens. On the Clent Hills, newly planted trees have to be fitted with guards to prevent the deer from killing them. Farmers complain about them too. Beautiful though deer are, there are just too many of them.
          On Cannock Chase, and no doubt many other places, sharp-shooters have to be employed to shoot deer, to keep their numbers down. Animal lovers often protest, but if some of the deer weren't shot, a great many more of them would starve, because there isn't enough countryside to support their numbers. Why? Because we've cut through the food-chain. We've removed the top predator, the wolf.
          If there was a wolf-pack on Cannock Chase, the deer numbers would be kept in check by predation - but the wolf-pack would be kept in check by the number of deer. If deer numbers fall, so do the wolf-numbers. When deer numbers rise, so do the wolf-numbers. This is the way it was meant to be.
          Just as reintroducing beavers has improved wet-land

The-Wolf-Sisters by Susan-Price

 

environments, reintroducing wolves has similar benefits.

After wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming scientists discovered that aspen and cottonwood groves recovered - not because wolves were killing all the elk, but because the elk stopped standing around and grazing like domestic livestock...Aspens and cottonwood grow in fragile stream areas which are extremely sensitive to overgrazing...From this website.

          When the elk stopped destroying so many trees, beaver numbers grew, and beavers created more dams and wetland, which encouraged the growth of more wetland vegetation. This, in turn, provided habitat for more birds and insects. This is known as a 'trophic cascade' where one addition (or subtraction) to an environment produces many more changes.
          Another change is that wolves kill steadily throughout the year, but don't eat all of their kill. What they leave provides food for many scavenging species, from small mammals to birds and insects, who would otherwise have problems surviving.
          Reintroducing wolves in the UK would have a similar beneficial effect on our countryside. One inescapable fact is: they are meant to be here. Without them, our ecology is out of whack.
          Of course, there would be protests. It happened in America, in Yellowstone and other areas where wolves have been 're-wilded.' Every cow or sheep killed by a wolf was greeted by major press coverage and screams of outrage. After all, in 2003, wolves killed 500 sheep in Montana.
          500. That's a lot of sheep.
          During the same year, coyotes - which had always been present and were accepted as part of the local wildlife - killed 11,800. There was no press coverage of those killings, but that twenty-three and a half times more sheep than were killed by wolves.
          Overall documentation shows that weather and disease kill far more livestock than wolves. Killings by wolves amount to 1% of the total causes of livestock loss.
          Put it another way - 99% of livestock loss is NOT caused by wolves.
          But wolves are Big and Bad, aren't they?
          Davy says, think of all the losses Scottish estates will make, if they can't charge (human) hunters thousands of pounds to shoot red deer.
          Well, my heart bleeds. Apart from the fact that wolves (see above) don't kill all the deer, and there would still be some for people to shoot - think of the money the estate would make from expeditions to see the wolves.
          How would you feel, Davy says, if you lived in the country and had to wait at a dark bus-stop when there were wolves about?
          Well, I would be thrilled. It would add a whole new dimension to the tedious chore of catching a bus.
          How do you think people with kiddies will feel, when they have to walk to school, with wolves?
          Well, I would think when kiddies are walking to school, the wolves would be asleep. Also, it can't be said enough, that wolves are skittish, wary creatures, who don't like bright lights, loud noises or people. Fairly easy things to scare away. Take a torch with you and be prepared to shout, stamp and clap.
          A friend met a ranger in Yellowstone Park who'd worked there for twenty years and had never seen a wolf - and he wanted to see them, he was on the watch for them. He'd heard them, had found remains of their kills and their tracks and droppings, so he knew they were about. But he had never seen one, although he saw bears and elk nearly every day.
          Ah, but what about when wolves become urban, like foxes? What about when you've wolf-packs running through the streets, turning your dustbins over?
          I can only say: Bring it on.
          Over to you lot. What do you think. Don't spare mine, or the wolves' feelings. Have your say.

Art work above, copyright Andrew Price 

 

 

Wolf cartoon, copyright Adam Price

 

After wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming scientists found that aspen and cottonwood groves recovered – not because wolves were killing all the elk, but because elk stopped standing around grazing like domestic livestock.
Similarly, wolves, by preying on elk and moose populations, have helped willow and fir groves to recover in other parts of the US and Canada. Willows, aspens, and cottonwoods all grow in fragile stream areas, which are extremely sensitive to over-grazing.
- See more at: http://www.jyi.org/issue/restoration-or-destruction-the-controversy-over-wolf-reintroduction/#sthash.7p0WSaPn.dpuf

After wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming scientists found that aspen and cottonwood groves recovered – not because wolves were killing all the elk, but because elk stopped standing around grazing like domestic livestock.
Similarly, wolves, by preying on elk and moose populations, have helped willow and fir groves to recover in other parts of the US and Canada. Willows, aspens, and cottonwoods all grow in fragile stream areas, which are extremely sensitive to over-grazing.
- See more at: http://www.jyi.org/issue/restoration-or-destruction-the-controversy-over-wolf-reintroduction/#sthash.7p0WSaPn.dpuf

After wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming scientists found that aspen and cottonwood groves recovered – not because wolves were killing all the elk, but because elk stopped standing around grazing like domestic livestock.
Similarly, wolves, by preying on elk and moose populations, have helped willow and fir groves to recover in other parts of the US and Canada. Willows, aspens, and cottonwoods all grow in fragile stream areas, which are extremely sensitive to over-grazing.
- See more at: http://www.jyi.org/issue/restoration-or-destruction-the-controversy-over-wolf-reintroduction/#sthash.7p0WSaPn.dpuf