United Kingdom
With Yellowstone’s success of the reintroduction of wolves, other national parks may look to emulate this. Reintroduction of wolves into the Scottish Highlands was first proposed in the late 1960s, however it only started to gain wide publicity following the success in the USA. With the effective reintroduction of the wild boar and the Eurasian beaver, Britain looked to the grey wolf to fulfil its retrieval of some of its larger native wild animals. Records indicate the last wolf was killed in 1680 in Perthshire but other sources suggest wolves roamed Scotland until the 18th century. Despite demonisation of wolves, they are in fact shy and retiring animals. Scientists at the Universities of Sussex and Oxford believe they could reduce red deer numbers, protect farmers crops, and increase tourism across Europe. There is however still concerns around wolf-human interactions.
Researchers suggest a fenced area, to restrict encounters between wolves, farmers and residents, as this would be optimal for the wolves to populate in high densities and effectively regulate red deer, a real-life Jurassic Park. Currently, red deer are responsible for the prevention of tree regeneration, with greater than 30% of its woodland sub-standard due to their herbivory. Ecological restoration by rewilding is currently receiving much wider recognition within the conservation community and restoring native flora and fauna, such as grey wolves, to an ecosystem could be a key step toward rewilding our British landscapes.
