Should we bring back the wolf?

John Dean looks at why wolves could be making a comeback.

IT is an evocative sound which triggers a primeval response in human beings, a mixture of fear and awe which reminds us that even on this crowded planet, there are places where the animals really do run wild.

The howl of the wolf has been missing from the hills of northern Britain for at least 300 years: now a growing band of naturalists believe it is time for it to return.

In addition to arguing for the re-introduction of the wolf, they would like to see other large animals brought back, including brown bear, and the wild boar, which disappeared in the 18th century but is already re-established in some parts of Britain following escapes from captivity.

The most likely candidate, were it ever to happen in the North-East, seems to be the Eurasian lynx, which has not been seen in the region for at least 2,000 years.

The idea of bringing back big predators is fraught with problems, including the fear which would be felt by many countryside users, the risk that the animals would take farm livestock, and the concern that illegal big game hunters would kill them for trophies.

But the naturalists argue that for Britain's ecological balance to be restored after centuries of Man's meddling, the country must welcome back the large animals.

And it is not just a romantic flight of fancy, because they contend that the predators would control the large and increasingly destructive deer population: indeed, Scottish Highlands landowner Paul van Vlissingen recently called for the return of wolf and lynx for exactly those reasons.

Wolf and bear are inevitably the creatures which most grab the public imagination. Wolves once roamed the forested parts of northern England but died out having been victims of persecution.

No one is quite sure when they disappeared in England but it was before the last ones became extinct in Scotland and Ireland in the 1700s. Today, their European stronghold is Russia, as well as the likes of Latvia, Poland, Romania and parts of Scandinavia.

Brown bears seem to have disappeared from Britain before the Romans invaded. Today they are strong in Russia, Finland and Sweden and scattered across the likes of Romania, Bulgaria and the Mediterranean countries.

Britain has already experimented with bringing back some native species: beavers are set to come back to Scotland and have been reintroduced in southern England, and otters were released in areas including the North York Moors at the end of the 20th century. Naturalists argue that the next, larger step, should now be taken.

In the vanguard is Professor Stephen Harris, the eminent Bristol University zoologist and chairman of the national Mammal Society. He says: "One reason would be to put our eco-system back in some sort of shape. In Britain we have the least natural mammal population of any country in the world, apart from New Zealand, where virtually everything is introduced apart from a couple of species of bats.

"In Britain the biomass of rabbits alone exceeds all the other wild mammals combined, and that's an introduced species that's been living wild in this countryside in reasonable numbers for only about 200 years."

Prof Harris regards wolf and Eurasian lynx as the best species to bring in first. Lynx probably disappeared from Britain before Roman times and today's strongholds are Scandinavia and Russia with isolated pockets in the likes of Slovakia, Switzerland, France, the Czech Republic and Romania.

Prof Harris says: "Wolf or lynx would be very useful because we've nothing that preys on our rapidly expanding deer populations. We have two native species and four introduced ones and the ecological impact of all these grazing deer is dramatic: they can wipe out the ground flora in a wood, for instance."

Prof Harris acknowledges many people do not want to see their return. He says: "If you brought back lynx or wolf, they would eat some livestock but we slaughtered millions of sheep, pigs and cattle to try to control foot-and-mouth disease. If we can afford to do that we can afford to compensate farmers for the few losses that would occur from wild predators.

"People have a huge fear of wolves that seems remarkably unfounded. Domestic dogs kill more people every year than wolves and the risk factor is so low that, frankly, it ought to be ignored.

"In most cases the habitat is there. It's more a question of whether people really want to have them. I would introduce lynx first because the chance of seeing a lynx in the wild would be so remote that people would never know they were there. We probably have enough habitat in Britain for about a thousand."

His comments find an echo in Ian Bond, a Stockton Council countryside warden and editor of the newsletter of the Northumbrian Mammal Group, which covers the entire North-East. Mr Bond, from Darlington, is collating evidence that big predators may already be at large in the region in the form of big cats like puma or lynx, which escaped from private collections. He believes the northern hills already have the right habitat and enough deer to support large predators and likes the idea of reintroduction: "It would change the face of the countryside and certainly make a walk in the woods more interesting.

"Ecologically, it is perfectly feasible to introduce these species. However, bears occupy huge territories and need a lot of space, and although wolves are also feasible from an ecological point of view and there are still habitats out there, you are probably looking at Scotland. The species that is least problematic is the lynx. If we had them, you would not know they were there. They would take the odd sheep but you usually never see them."

Steve Lowe, conservation manager of Northumberland Wildlife Trust and chairman of the Northumbrian Mammal Group, is not so sure that reintroductions would work.

He says: "I am sceptical whether or not restoring these large mammals would work because I am not sure there is a lot of wild left to accommodate them, perhaps in the Scottish Highlands or on a few islands but that is about it.

"Also, these animals have already been persecuted and you only have to look at persecution of predators such as birds of prey today. I would personally love to see bear return but suspect they would end up being persecuted.

"It would be great to go into the countryside and find something like that, even at our own risk, but being pragmatic, I suspect it would be destined for failure."

Prof Harris, who started the current debate, realises that there is plenty of work left to protect existing species but still likes the idea.

He says: "'Bring back the wolf' sounds glamorous but 'save the weasel' may be more important. However, the reaction to my comments has generally been very positive.

"Most people say we should get down to it but we have to confront our own ecological imperialism. We expect other people to co-exist with large mammals like lions and tigers, elephants and buffalo, but we're not doing our bit."