Should Ireland Re-Introduce the wolf?

Duff

We could just give them Leitrim. In all seriousness, I'd love to see it, but doubt it'll ever happen.

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Gavinz

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Which bear is best?

Bears
Beets
Battlestar Galactica

Gavinz

Shyte

eisenberg1

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

Russian Bear is best bear.

You can eat them. I once had a bear steak in St Petersburg.

velo.2010

Yes....Re-introduce the Wolf!

Tauriel

Heart says yes, head says no.

Cee-Jay-Cee

It'd all be grand and dandy till a wolf attacks a child and then it'd be 'oooh we should get rid of the wolves from Ireland as theyre too dangerous..."

josip

arctictree wrote: »

...
As a sheep farmer, there would only be one result if a wolf was caught in a field with my flock.

Hind legs down the wellies?

jamesbere

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

It'd all be grand and dandy till a wolf attacks a child and then it'd be 'oooh we should get rid of the wolves from Ireland as theyre too dangerous..."

Get rid of the children, their always interfering in these matters. Wolves are the future

briany

....of course, when the wolf numbers get too high, when can just introduce a special type of python from the continent that predates on the wolf. When the python numbers get too high, we can import a type of ape that thrives on snake meat. Finally, when the ape numbers get too high, we can simply co-opt the smartest of them into Irish society and let them run for political office. When the number of simian politicians gets too high, we can simply jail the ones who were too careless to hide their corruption.

Mouseslayer17

Farmers would be crying again,
Off to Europe with the caps out .
It would make camping more fun

JupiterKid

I think there had already been an attempt to reintroduce wild boar to a couple of forests/woods here in Ireland. I don't know how that worked out.

Capt'n Midnight

Parchment wrote: »

The latent goth in me loves the idea. Wolves are stunning but would it not upset the ecosystem/animal "chain of command" at this point?

The biggest carnivore left is the badger.




I love that pine martens eat grey squirrels \o/

Bring back badgers, we could do with a lot more flood control.

wakka12

Yes another big issue will be when the wolf kills somebody. it will happen eventually. And obviously its not as simple as this, but is reintroducing an extinct animal worth even one life..? Because somebody will be blamed for it and have to answer for it, when the person gets killed.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I met a wolf on a lead in the woods near my home a few years back. I was walking my dog when I said to myself god that's a wolf coming down the path.

Got chatting to the owner, he told me it was a Grey Wolf crossed with a German Shepard.

Gorgeous looking animal.

pheasant tail

God forbid we introduced wolves again, poor wee sheep farmers would actually have to do some work. Imagine the subsidies we'd have to give them then

Jack the Stripper

Can't be any worse than knock on door from ex wife.

corner of hells

arctictree wrote: »

They would need to be fenced in, and that fence maintained.

As a sheep farmer, there would only be one result if a wolf was caught in a field with my flock.

A sheeolf ?

eisenberg1

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I met a wolf on a lead in the woods near my home a few years back. I was walking my dog when I said to myself god that's a wolf coming down the path.

Got chatting to the owner, he told me it was a Grey Wolf crossed with a German Shepard.

Gorgeous looking animal.

I'd swear I saw a guy in tallaght walking a wolf or hybrid on a leash a few years ago.

Noo

Anyone see that recent enough episode of Vice where some russian scientist wants to reintroduce the wolly mammoth to siberia.

Wolves are lame....woolly mammoths are the way to go!

LordSutch

Yes.

Bring them back & teach them how to hunt grey squirrels (which are not indigenous to Ireland)! The wolves might also 'pick off' diseased foxes, badgers, cattle & sheep. Its a win win all round. The tourist industry would get a massive boost too, with bus loads coming to see them in the wild.

PS Obviously tourists would have to stay inside their tour buses, for fear of being eaten.

Pkiernan

Let's reintroduce cholera and smallpox too

namloc1980

steddyeddy wrote: »

Yes is the simple answer. From an ecological point of view it's not as simple as "there used to be X animal in a certain country". Reintroducing animals previously present in a country's fauna pool has been shown to have had positive effects. or instance, Yellowstone Park had a problem with the large amount of deer in the park completely stripping the trees and plants of leaves.
Prior to this wolves used to keep the deer population under control. Until they were hunted to extinction that is.

A few years back wolves were reintroduced and the park is thriving. The deer population decreased, the trees have more foliage, beavers came back as a result of the new greenery and bears came back into the park. That's a remote example but it's indicative of the type of benefits that can come about.

That's fantastic and it works in a vast wilderness like Yellowstone. We have nowhere in Ireland that comes close to that. Most of the country is in private ownership and is converted to agricultural land and any wolf population would inevitably target livestock. Works brilliantly in Yellowstone, but would be lunacy in Ireland.

PucaMama

eisenberg1 wrote: »

I'd swear I saw a guy in tallaght walking a wolf or hybrid on a leash a few years ago.

In Ireland these "wolf hybrids" (not the same as recognised wolfdog breeds) are very likely to be just husky mutts. As an example of people believing everything their told about their dogs breeding, I met a man before walking a tiny jack Russell with the saddle back markings like a German shepherd. Loads of breeds have this marking but he had been told by someone else his dog was half German shepherd. Ridiculous. He believed every word.

Wibbs

PucaMama wrote: »

In Ireland these "wolf hybrids" (not the same as recognised wolfdog breeds) are very likely to be just husky mutts.

+1. I've only ever encountered a couple of actual Wolfdogs in Ireland. Most people don't know what features are wolf or dog. TV and films don't help as they almost always use husky crosses, so that's what people naturally think of as "wolf". They use dogs for good reason as wolves or high content wolf dogs while trainable aren't nearly as reliable and are more independently minded. They don't have the "obey human" thing to nearly the same degree. One exception that springs to mind was "Dances with wolves" where the real deal was used.



Kinda looks like a husky, but doesn't. Level back, no curl to tail, proportionally larger head and longer neck, fully furred ears, gold/light brown eyes(no wolf has blue eyes), huge paws, more splayed legs, narrow in body and "wild" colouring to coat.

eisenberg1

eisenberg1 wrote: »

I'd swear I saw a guy in tallaght walking a wolf or hybrid on a leash a few years ago.

PucaMama wrote: »

In Ireland these "wolf hybrids" (not the same as recognised wolfdog breeds) are very likely to be just husky mutts. As an example of people believing everything their told about their dogs breeding, I met a man before walking a tiny jack Russell with the saddle back markings like a German shepherd. Loads of breeds have this marking but he had been told by someone else his dog was half German shepherd. Ridiculous. He believed every word.

No, this was not a husky/Shepherd cross....and I know enough about dogs not to confuse a jack Russel with a GSD because it has the same markings. I would bet it had a wolf strain in it and more likely crossed with a shepherd than a husky.

Shenshen

LordSutch wrote: »

Yes.

Bring them back & teach them how to hunt grey squirrels (which are not indigenous to Ireland)! The wolves might also 'pick off' diseased foxes, badgers, cattle & sheep. Its a win win all round. The tourist industry would get a massive boost too, with bus loads coming to see them in the wild.

PS Obviously tourists would have to stay inside their tour buses, for fear of being eaten.

I might be a tad unimaginative, but I can't for the life of me see a wolf scrambling up a tree after a squirrel....

pedigree 6

This is Ireland.
THE best farming country in the world.
Feeding the world.

Skylinehead

Shenshen wrote: »

I might be a tad unimaginative, but I can't for the life of me see a wolf scrambling up a tree after a squirrel....

:pac: