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.
Continue reading “On pure numbers of fatalities (not to mention cost, simplicity and and health of our ecosystems), wolf reintroduction is a no-brainer”Alps (including Julian and Balkan extension)
Reintroduced beavers, once extinct in the UK, could damage the ecosystem?
British fisherman and a number of other people have argued that reintroducing beavers or allowing the beavers that are here to thrive would severely damage the river and its ecosystem.
This is a peculiar argument and must be categorically and thoroughly rejected. Beavers are a native part of the British ecosystem.
Continue reading “Reintroduced beavers, once extinct in the UK, could damage the ecosystem?”
Beaver trial reintroduction in the UK has a problem when one of the animals escapes
Reintroducing beavers into the UK would be a very sensible move. As a natural part of our ecosystem the fact that they are no longer there has an impact. Apart from the substantial reduction in flash floods that will occur should beavers be reintroduced across the UK, they also have a huge impact on biodiversity and the general river ecosystem as well as acting as a filter meaning that the water further downstream is substantially cleaner virtually eliminating all farm runoff.
However at the moment all British schemes to do with reintroducing beavers consist of putting the beavers into relatively small enclosures and then watching their impacts and how well they do.
Continue reading “Beaver trial reintroduction in the UK has a problem when one of the animals escapes”Reintroducing man-eating tigers to the wild
Photo by Sander Wehkamp
Historically, once a big cat has taken to man-eating they will not stop. As such this means once cats have started eating humans they have had to be hunted down and removed, to either spend the rest of its life in captivity, or to be killed. This is a reasonable reaction to the problem, however it is increasingly not possible without large effects. Continue reading “Reintroducing man-eating tigers to the wild”
UK extinct species and imported species – Part 2
Grey squirrels- invaders
These animals cause significant damage to woodland throughout the UK. They were first introduced to Henbury park in Cheshire, but have quickly spread. Being less reliant on trees than red squirrels they have done very well though it is thought that red squirrels were not doing well anyway. A great deal of money and time has been spent trying to control their spread, as they often carry squirrel pox which kills red squirrels quickly, meaning they don’t share land for long.
Continue reading “UK extinct species and imported species – Part 2”
UK extinct species and imported species – Part 1
Huge numbers of species have been disappearing from some or all of their original range in the wild. While there are other reasons for animals to disappear from areas, humans are usually the biggest. This is certainly the case on a micro scale. The majority of impacts of climate change has shifted the entire range for a species in one direction or another. Many mountainous species have shifted their range up hill as the planet has warmed. The problem with this shifting is that often it leaves species stuck in small areas of suitable habitat at the top of hills or mountains. Continue reading “UK extinct species and imported species – Part 1”