Should Ireland Re-Introduce the wolf?

Graces7

Duff wrote: »

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

Years ago here on boards someone wrote of a man in Leitrim literally living with wolves; I imagine they were enclosed.

Fewer years ago, in wildest Kerry, I almost ran over - or into- a wolf, in a large forestry area.

I asked my then landlord and he , upset , told me that a man living out there had a "pet wolf" and sometimes let it loose. The council knew and were embarrassed and peeved.. that anyone keeping a wolf had to have a licence and keep it caged. Clearly no one did have such a licence and they were not exactly strong on checking these things out in the wilder areas..

It was a wonderful sight though.. i know my landlord will have alerted the neighbours as this was near sheep country. Poor wolf.

Never heard more and did not ask.

Stigura

Graces7 wrote: »

Years ago here on boards someone wrote of a man in Leitrim literally living with wolves; I imagine they were enclosed.

Naah. They were Husky / Malamute things.

He's dead now.

Pkiernan

Do you mean that the man from Leitrim was caged?

casscass4444

eisenberg1 wrote: »

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

Where did they get the wolf to cross with the Alsatian?mate working in a zoo?

eisenberg1

casscass4444 wrote: »

Where did they get the wolf to cross with the Alsatian?mate working in a zoo?

Dunno. I don't what the law is here regarding keeping a wolf, but up North they are (or were) a bit more lax...so maybe from there. I do recall reading something about a guy in Derry or Belfast keeping a leopard on a shed.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I love how all the major land predators like wolves, bears and big cats are also super cute.

Who wouldn't want to cuddle a wolf or tiger.

goose2005

The fox's main predator is the car, which kills thousands of them every year, far more than wolves could ever manage

DEFTLEFTHAND

I wonder has there ever been any serious attempts made to domesticate the fox. Gorgeous looking creature, although it has to be said that the vixens banshee esq howl is rather off putting.

REPTILEDAN88

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I wonder has there ever been any serious attempts made to domesticate the fox. Gorgeous looking creature, although it has to be said that the vixens banshee esq howl is rather off putting.

Theres loads of people with pet foxes tbh, they come in a lot of colours too. Theres keepers of red, fennec, corsac and other fox species in the UK too.
Theres no special licence required for animals like wolves etc over here only really the a10's for the likes of birds of prey, a dog licence, cites papers if they are a cites listed species and livestock tag numbers. Northern Ireland being part of the UK though has a D.W.A list/licence and you're required to have locked rooms for the likes of venomous snakes etc and adequate sized spaced enclosures for wolves, bears, tigers and the like.

DanielODonnell

Has there been a Liam Neeson joke yet?

DEFTLEFTHAND

Cool, I'll have to look into that. I'd love to get myself a fox.

ScumLord

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I wonder has there ever been any serious attempts made to domesticate the fox. Gorgeous looking creature, although it has to be said that the vixens banshee esq howl is rather off putting.

I think it was a Russian who was able to make tame foxes, they had similar changes to wolve turning into dogs, curly tails, childlike behaviour, lot's of random hair colours.

We basically captured a load of foxes and put them in cages, he'd keep the ones that didn't go nuts when a person came near the cage. He kept doing that until he eventually ended up with a breed of domesticated foxes.

Wibbs

casscass4444 wrote: »

Where did they get the wolf to cross with the Alsatian?mate working in a zoo?

If there ware wolf bloodlines going on, then most likely sourced from the UK, where there were a couple of "breeders" doing that sort of thing. Other than the obvious problems of mixing wild with domestic, the other issue was the lack of choice in wolf parentage and on top of that lots of back breeding to keep the "look", because that's what sells. Temperament was a really big issue and some genetic illnesses with it*. When the "official" Wolfdog breeds came on the scene; Czech Wolfdog, Saarloos etc, European breeders(who can be bad enough) came to a largely group decision not to send any breeding stock to the UK because of the issues there.






*actual wolves very rarely suffer from that stuff, even though their genetics can be quite narrow. Hip dysplasia and DM are unknown in wild populations.

The Pheasant2

Wibbs wrote: »

If there ware wolf bloodlines going on, then most likely sourced from the UK, where there were a couple of "breeders" doing that sort of thing. Other than the obvious problems of mixing wild with domestic, the other issue was the lack of choice in wolf parentage and on top of that lots of back breeding to keep the "look", because that's what sells. Temperament was a really big issue and some genetic illnesses with it*. When the "official" Wolfdog breeds came on the scene; Czech Wolfdog, Saarloos etc, European breeders(who can be bad enough) came to a largely group decision not to send any breeding stock to the UK because of the issues there.






*actual wolves very rarely suffer from that stuff, even though their genetics can be quite narrow. Hip dysplasia and DM are unknown in wild populations.

That's fascinating, where do you read this kind of stuff as a matter of interest?

PucaMama

casscass4444 wrote: »

Where did they get the wolf to cross with the Alsatian?mate working in a zoo?

They didn't. It's probably gsd x husky. Or some other northern breed x gsd. Very very unlikely it's a wolf mix.

Shenshen

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I wonder has there ever been any serious attempts made to domesticate the fox. Gorgeous looking creature, although it has to be said that the vixens banshee esq howl is rather off putting.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160912-a-soviet-scientist-created-the-only-tame-foxes-in-the-world

annascott

No. As much as I like and respect wolves, having them here would be dangerous. Imagine the fear of meeting them while walking your dog.
I think they are magnificent intelligent creatures and support conservation protection programmes for them in areas where they already live. I just do not want them here or in Britain.

eisenberg1

PucaMama wrote: »

They didn't. It's probably gsd x husky. Or some other northern breed x gsd. Very very unlikely it's a wolf mix.

Again, it wasn't a gsd/husky cross. This was approx ten years ago. How can you be so sure when you didn't see it?

PucaMama

eisenberg1 wrote: »

Again, it wasn't a gsd/husky cross. This was approx ten years ago. How can you be so sure when you didn't see it?

Because there are just no actual breeders of them in Ireland. Where would they get a wolf?? Think about it. How can YOU be so sure.

eisenberg1

PucaMama wrote: »

Because there are just no actual breeders of them in Ireland. Where would they get a wolf?? Think about it. How can YOU be so sure.

I said what looked like a wolf or a hybrid( I'm NOT sure..) but am pretty sure it wasn't gsd/husky. As to where you would get a wolf....I've no idea. It was just a passing comment about something I witnessed, but I'm no expert on wolves. But if you are, and you say it is impossible that I saw a what I thought was a wolf or a hybrid, than I will bow to your superior knowledge on the subject.

PucaMama

eisenberg1 wrote: »

I said what looked like a wolf or a hybrid( I'm NOT sure..) but am pretty sure it wasn't gsd/husky. As to where you would get a wolf....I've no idea. It was just a passing comment about something I witnessed, but I'm no expert on wolves. But if you are, and you say it is impossible that I saw a what I thought was a wolf or a hybrid, than I will bow to your superior knowledge on the subject.

I'm not claiming superior knowledge I'm just pointing out that there are no hybrid breeders in ireland. There are some in the U.K. that breed the "wolfdog" breeds but these animals are not direct wolf/dog crosses. If you look at some of the northern breeds they look very primitive but that's because they are usually working dogs that need to keep those features.

eisenberg1

PucaMama wrote: »

I'm not claiming superior knowledge I'm just pointing out that there are no hybrid breeders in ireland. There are some in the U.K. that breed the "wolfdog" breeds but these animals are not direct wolf/dog crosses. If you look at some of the northern breeds they look very primitive but that's because they are usually working dogs that need to keep those features.

Ok, cheers.

Ash.J.Williams

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Bears? Seriously...where?

Everywhere

eisenberg1

eisenberg1 wrote: »

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

Ok, you didn't ask how it tasted, so I'll tell you.

It was very grizzly

Galwayguy35

fizzypish wrote: »

For the purpose of conversation good post OP and what I'm about to write is not aimed at you but the idea: **** no thats a terrible idea. The areas they did it in the states were remote to some degree. Theres no spot in Ireland bar the top of a mountain where your not a quarter day from someone. No matter where you put them they would interfere with farmland. They already have problems re introducing large birds of prey due to farmers shooting them. Wolves are so ****ing dangerous that during WW2, the Russians and Germans had a cease fire to kill the wolf population due to predation on the soldiers. If you argue the wolves were starving in that situation then I say that the introduced wolves to Ireland will only be a problem if they get hungry enough?!?! As a people we have forgotten but we exterminated the population for a reason. Wolves would control the deer population and foxes and all that stuff BUT we'd have to control the wolf population. Lets all be thankful that the most dangerous **** we deal with is an Irate badger or a thicket of nettles.

I think we should reintroduce the paragraph to Ireland.

Galwayguy35

My history is a bit hazy but wasn't it Cromwell who ordered the slaughter of the wolves in Ireland, it seems before that the Irish did hunt them but had no desire to kill them off altogether.

The country back then was mostly covered in forest so they had lots of place to live and most of them probably lives their whole lives in the forests without ever seeing a human.

When the English cut down the forests to built their ships the wolf was doomed.

AudreyHepburn

I'd love to think it would be possible but the sad truth is there is a portion of the population who would stop at nothing to hunt them into extinction again.

These being the same people who think it's ok to poison eagles and behead seals for doing what comes naturally to them and cannot accept that is us that have encroached on their territory, not the other way around.

JupiterKid

Whatever about reintroducing wolves and other species to Ireland, I do think our so-called "National parks" are pitifully small. They are tiny in comparison the the national parks in Britain.:(