In the half a century running up to the year 2002, there are only 8 recorded fatalities from wolf attacks across the whole of Europe and western Russia. Also when thinking about this number we need to remember that the majority of these sorts of occurred in parts of the world where there are many wolves such as Western Russia.
This should permanently put paid to the idea of little red riding hood and other fairy tales that paint the wolf as the big baddy. In actual fact humans tended to work well with wolves (certainly for the majority of our historical time on earth, until we settle down to farm). It is true that an opportunistic wolf might attack and unaccompanied small child deep in the wood – however this doesn’t strike me as a big loss, I certainly would not allow a child under 8 to roam a large woodland on their own, I was suggested they would always be at more danger from humans than any animals that might be there.
It has always been curious to me as to why why the fear of wolves so pervasive and yet the habit of keeping domesticated wolves as pets is so common. The domestic dog is descended from Israeli wolves. It is true that there may be thousands or even tens of thousands of generations splitting these long distant cousins. However they are still essentially the same animal, indeed this is a problem in many parts of Europe as well we have successfully persecuted the wolf, feral dogs roam in great numbers. not only can these feral dogs be far more dangerous to humans as they do not have the intrinsic fear, but they also so can interbreed with the wolves eradicating the pure wolf from the natural world.
Car crashes caused by deer collisions kill and average of 20 people a year in the UK, so over the last 5 decades of the 20th century we can roughly estimate that 1000 people have been killed by deer collisions on the roads of Britain. It should be noted that in the early part of these five decades, cars with a less safe than they are now so the average number of deaths per collision would be significantly higher.
Unlike lynx, wolves are a chase predator. They do not creep along the ground, and launch an attack from metres away. Instead wolves will chase adia deer sometimes for miles.
Furthermore, again unlike Eurasian lynx they create a climate of fear. They are not generally timid when they move into an area -while European wolves do howl less than American wolves, it is hard for prey species to be unaware of their presence. As a result wolves can impact prey species behaviour in a greater manner than simply reducing the numbers. If lynx were reduced to an area in the UK, it is predicted that they would reduce deer numbers by up to 90% within a couple of decades. However they will have little little impact on the behaviour of the deer, meaning of likely reduction in car collisions by 90% as well.
Wolves tend to impact the entirety of a population very rapidly. The prey species are aware of the wolves in the area within a short time of moving in. This tends to instantly start changing their behaviour, from making the move around more to keeping away from open spaces such as roads. As a result, car collisions with deer often fall to virtually zero.
As an aside, it is estimated deer collisions cost the UK between quarter and half a billion pounds a year in insurance claims lost work and other costs. One scientists sat down and calculated that’s if we introduced roughly 1000 wolves and half only a sheep, even a generous compensation scheme would not cost more than about 100 million a year – a country saving of 300-400 million pounds.
So would they damage tourist numbers?
- Well firstly, a very large number of British people holiday in Europe in areas where wolf numbers are higher than they would ever reach in the UK. Indeed, while unaware, many European tourists are likely to have been relatively close to world wolves without ever realising it. This is all to say that while wolf reintroductions may put some people off there is no significant danger – indeed given the reduction in deer numbers, we may find the number of injuries from wild animals reduces rather than increases.
- Secondly, wildlife tourism is extremely popular. Indeed the long-term name of this site is to simplify that very process. While living alongside animals like this will take adjustment, any minor loss in income is likely to be easily made up my entrepreneurial farmers giving tourists the ability to view the animals that share their land. I have been lucky enough to see wolves a few times, and to hear them howling in the distance. It is a sight and sound that stays with you and one that I will cover much ground to repeat if the chance presents itself.
With some grants to help create wolf safe livestock rearing, farmers are likely to be only minorly affected. Indeed crop farmers may well increase their yields, as deer and other animals are less likely to raid their crops.
In summary, tourism is likely to benefit, deer collisions on roads will reduce dramatically giving a huge advantage to insurance companies and saving a significant number of lives each year, some farmers will gain and others will lose – however with some government support this is likely to be a very minor issue after the the situation has settled down.
Finally for me, the most important reason is to rebalance the ecosystem. The ecosystem of Great Britain has many holes in it. While we are slowly filling those in, reintroducing an apex predator would likely have an enormous boost to many ecosystems around the UK – it would certainly greatly simplify the replanting of areas of the Caledonian forests in Scotland and many other areas of forestry around the UK would become more healthy by forcing the herbivores to keep on the move.
I will start a discussion page on this subject follow the link below to give your own thoughts. It should be noted that a survey done in 2019 concluded a third of people in the UK questioned stated that they would support wolf and lynx reintroduction, and a quarter would support bear reintroduction (to read the article yourself click here https://yougov.co.uk/topics/science/articles-reports/2020/01/28/third-brits-would-reintroduce-wolves-and-lynxes-uk). Given the lack of significant education on the benefits and the risks of this move, i believe that both these numbers would likely climb rapidly were the government to put its support behind the project
In the half a century running up to the year 2002, there are only 8 recorded fatalities from wolf attacks across the whole of Europe and western Russia. Also when thinking about this number we need to remember that the majority of these sorts of occurred in parts of the world where there are many wolves such as Western Russia.
This should permanently put paid to the idea of little red riding hood and other fairy tales that paint the wolf as the big baddy. In actual fact humans tended to work well with wolves (certainly for the majority of our historical time on earth, until we settle down to farm). It is true that an opportunistic wolf might attack and unaccompanied small child deep in the wood – however this doesn’t strike me as a big loss, I certainly would not allow a child under 8 to roam a large woodland on their own, I was suggested they would always be at more danger from humans than any animals that might be there.
It has always been curious to me as to why why the fear of wolves so pervasive and yet the habit of keeping domesticated wolves as pets is so common. The domestic dog is descended from Israeli wolves. It is true that there may be thousands or even tens of thousands of generations splitting these long distant cousins. However they are still essentially the same animal, indeed this is a problem in many parts of Europe as well we have successfully persecuted the wolf, feral dogs roam in great numbers. not only can these feral dogs be far more dangerous to humans as they do not have the intrinsic fear, but they also so can interbreed with the wolves eradicating the pure wolf from the natural world.
Car crashes caused by deer collisions kill and average of 20 people a year in the UK, so over the last 5 decades of the 20th century we can roughly estimate that 1000 people have been killed by deer collisions on the roads of Britain. It should be noted that in the early part of these five decades, cars with a less safe than they are now so the average number of deaths per collision would be significantly higher.
Unlike lynx, wolves are a chase predator. They do not creep along the ground, and launch an attack from metres away. Instead wolves will chase adia deer sometimes for miles.
Furthermore, again unlike Eurasian lynx they create a climate of fear. They are not generally timid when they move into an area -while European wolves do howl less than American wolves, it is hard for prey species to be unaware of their presence. As a result wolves can impact prey species behaviour in a greater manner than simply reducing the numbers. If lynx were reduced to an area in the UK, it is predicted that they would reduce deer numbers by up to 90% within a couple of decades. However they will have little little impact on the behaviour of the deer, meaning of likely reduction in car collisions by 90% as well.
Wolves tend to impact the entirety of a population very rapidly. The prey species are aware of the wolves in the area within a short time of moving in. This tends to instantly start changing their behaviour, from making the move around more to keeping away from open spaces such as roads. As a result, car collisions with deer often fall to virtually zero.
As an aside, it is estimated deer collisions cost the UK between quarter and half a billion pounds a year in insurance claims lost work and other costs. One scientists sat down and calculated that’s if we introduced roughly 1000 wolves and half only a sheep, even a generous compensation scheme would not cost more than about 100 million a year – a country saving of 300-400 million pounds.
So would they damage tourist numbers?
- Well firstly, a very large number of British people holiday in Europe in areas where wolf numbers are higher than they would ever reach in the UK. Indeed, while unaware, many European tourists are likely to have been relatively close to world wolves without ever realising it. This is all to say that while wolf reintroductions may put some people off there is no significant danger – indeed given the reduction in deer numbers, we may find the number of injuries from wild animals reduces rather than increases.
- Secondly, wildlife tourism is extremely popular. Indeed the long-term name of this site is to simplify that very process. While living alongside animals like this will take adjustment, any minor loss in income is likely to be easily made up my entrepreneurial farmers giving tourists the ability to view the animals that share their land. I have been lucky enough to see wolves a few times, and to hear them howling in the distance. It is a sight and sound that stays with you and one that I will cover much ground to repeat if the chance presents itself.
With some grants to help create wolf safe livestock rearing, farmers are likely to be only minorly affected. Indeed crop farmers may well increase their yields, as deer and other animals are less likely to raid their crops.
In summary, tourism is likely to benefit, deer collisions on roads will reduce dramatically giving a huge advantage to insurance companies and saving a significant number of lives each year, some farmers will gain and others will lose – however with some government support this is likely to be a very minor issue after the the situation has settled down.
Finally for me, the most important reason is to rebalance the ecosystem. The ecosystem of Great Britain has many holes in it. While we are slowly filling those in, reintroducing an apex predator would likely have an enormous boost to many ecosystems around the UK – it would certainly greatly simplify the replanting of areas of the Caledonian forests in Scotland and many other areas of forestry around the UK would become more healthy by forcing the herbivores to keep on the move.
I will start a discussion page on this subject follow the link below to give your own thoughts.
In the half a century running up to the year 2002, there are only 8 recorded fatalities from wolf attacks across the whole of Europe and western Russia. Also when thinking about this number we need to remember that the majority of these sorts of occurred in parts of the world where there are many wolves such as Western Russia.
This should permanently put paid to the idea of little red riding hood and other fairy tales that paint the wolf as the big baddy. In actual fact humans tended to work well with wolves (certainly for the majority of our historical time on earth, until we settle down to farm). It is true that an opportunistic wolf might attack and unaccompanied small child deep in the wood – however this doesn’t strike me as a big loss, I certainly would not allow a child under 8 to roam a large woodland on their own, I was suggested they would always be at more danger from humans than any animals that might be there.
It has always been curious to me as to why why the fear of wolves so pervasive and yet the habit of keeping domesticated wolves as pets is so common. The domestic dog is descended from Israeli wolves. It is true that there may be thousands or even tens of thousands of generations splitting these long distant cousins. However they are still essentially the same animal, indeed this is a problem in many parts of Europe as well we have successfully persecuted the wolf, feral dogs roam in great numbers. not only can these feral dogs be far more dangerous to humans as they do not have the intrinsic fear, but they also so can interbreed with the wolves eradicating the pure wolf from the natural world.
Car crashes caused by deer collisions kill and average of 20 people a year in the UK, so over the last 5 decades of the 20th century we can roughly estimate that 1000 people have been killed by deer collisions on the roads of Britain. It should be noted that in the early part of these five decades, cars with a less safe than they are now so the average number of deaths per collision would be significantly higher.
Unlike lynx, wolves are a chase predator. They do not creep along the ground, and launch an attack from metres away. Instead wolves will chase adia deer sometimes for miles.
Furthermore, again unlike Eurasian lynx they create a climate of fear. They are not generally timid when they move into an area -while European wolves do howl less than American wolves, it is hard for prey species to be unaware of their presence. As a result wolves can impact prey species behaviour in a greater manner than simply reducing the numbers. If lynx were reduced to an area in the UK, it is predicted that they would reduce deer numbers by up to 90% within a couple of decades. However they will have little little impact on the behaviour of the deer, meaning of likely reduction in car collisions by 90% as well.
Wolves tend to impact the entirety of a population very rapidly. The prey species are aware of the wolves in the area within a short time of moving in. This tends to instantly start changing their behaviour, from making the move around more to keeping away from open spaces such as roads. As a result, car collisions with deer often fall to virtually zero.
As an aside, it is estimated deer collisions cost the UK between quarter and half a billion pounds a year in insurance claims lost work and other costs. One scientists sat down and calculated that’s if we introduced roughly 1000 wolves and half only a sheep, even a generous compensation scheme would not cost more than about 100 million a year – a country saving of 300-400 million pounds.
So would they damage tourist numbers?
- Well firstly, a very large number of British people holiday in Europe in areas where wolf numbers are higher than they would ever reach in the UK. Indeed, while unaware, many European tourists are likely to have been relatively close to world wolves without ever realising it. This is all to say that while wolf reintroductions may put some people off there is no significant danger – indeed given the reduction in deer numbers, we may find the number of injuries from wild animals reduces rather than increases.
- Secondly, wildlife tourism is extremely popular. Indeed the long-term name of this site is to simplify that very process. While living alongside animals like this will take adjustment, any minor loss in income is likely to be easily made up my entrepreneurial farmers giving tourists the ability to view the animals that share their land. I have been lucky enough to see wolves a few times, and to hear them howling in the distance. It is a sight and sound that stays with you and one that I will cover much ground to repeat if the chance presents itself.
With some grants to help create wolf safe livestock rearing, farmers are likely to be only minorly affected. Indeed crop farmers may well increase their yields, as deer and other animals are less likely to raid their crops.
In summary, tourism is likely to benefit, deer collisions on roads will reduce dramatically giving a huge advantage to insurance companies and saving a significant number of lives each year, some farmers will gain and others will lose – however with some government support this is likely to be a very minor issue after the the situation has settled down.
Finally for me, the most important reason is to rebalance the ecosystem. The ecosystem of Great Britain has many holes in it. While we are slowly filling those in, reintroducing an apex predator would likely have an enormous boost to many ecosystems around the UK – it would certainly greatly simplify the replanting of areas of the Caledonian forests in Scotland and many other areas of forestry around the UK would become more healthy by forcing the herbivores to keep on the move.
I will start a discussion page on this subject follow the link below to give your own thoughts.