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Wolves In Wales?

maximus otter said:
I would point out to your neighbours - if you haven't already - that Yorkshire is agricultural country, and that local farmers would quite rightly take grave - and possibly fatal - exception to a dog Fenton-ing their sheep.

Yesterday: "Dog shot by farmer after killing six lambs in sheep worrying incident near Hebden Bridge."

maximus otter
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I long to read the headline: Farmer Shot By Badger.

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maximus otter said:
It seems that a lot of “animal lovers”, who would cross the M25 blindfolded at rush hour to sign an anti-stalking/hunting petition, coo over the idea of releasing wolves into the wild in the UK.

Might l suggest the viewing of a few YouTube videos showing wolves attacking prey animals, both wild and domestic? Here’s the result of 30 seconds’ Googling:

NOTE: Nature has no pity. Viewer discretion advised.



I’m very confident that, given a binary choice, my local deer would take an unexpected bullet every time.

maximus otter
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When the Liam Neeson adventure movie The Grey was released a few years ago, there were a lot of complaints that wolves would never behave like that, hunting a man in packs, but videos like the above appear to suggest otherwise. OK, they're not attacking a person, but they do have the killer instinct.
 
TangletwigsDeux said:
Completely agree that this island is now too small and over-developed to allow an unrestrained introduction of any apex predator.
There are plenty of existing endangered indiginous species that need help. Wild cats, red squirrels, otter. Dont introduce more, help what we already have.

EDIT: I note in FT405 pg.26 that someone claims to have seen a wolf in the Gloucestershire area, surely not a coincidence?
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Once a wolf has attacked and killed a human, will there be a re-assessment of this bass-ackwards idea, I wonder?
 
Frideswide said:
Just saying: this wonderful link is about er... human wolves. So no use basing serious ecological discussion on it. :)
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Crikey. I read the whole article on the page that was linked and thought it was factual about actual wolves that had been reintroduced. I was surprised, but I took it at face value. It was only after reading your post and going back and following some of the links at the top that I realised. <Hangs head in shame.>
 
Mikefule said:
Crikey. I read the whole article on the page that was linked and thought it was factual about actual wolves that had been reintroduced. I was surprised, but I took it at face value. It was only after reading your post and going back and following some of the links at the top that I realised. <Hangs head in shame.>
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I only realised when I counted the legs on some of the photos :)

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I'm still confused. It seems real.
Is there wolves being reintroduced or not? It says you can track them online ?

When "human " wolves was mentioned I thought it might be furries.

Still confused.

Edit - the page "Lakeland pack" shows them to be furries .
 
I wonder if wolves wouldn't have died out in the British Isles already, even if man hadn't given them a helping hand. They came into Britain when we were still joined to the European mainland, and their ranges could extend almost infinitely into Europe. Once we separated by the formation of the English channel they were left at the mercy of mankind, but if the human population hadn't exploded and bounties hadn't been introduced, would the area available have just proved too small and inadequate to support much in the way of wolf packs? Territories would have overlapped and inbreeding may have become endemic, causing one canine virus to wipe out much of the viable population?

Just speculating...
 
catseye said:
I wonder if wolves wouldn't have died out in the British Isles already, even if man hadn't given them a helping hand. They came into Britain when we were still joined to the European mainland, and their ranges could extend almost infinitely into Europe. Once we separated by the formation of the English channel they were left at the mercy of mankind, but if the human population hadn't exploded and bounties hadn't been introduced, would the area available have just proved too small and inadequate to support much in the way of wolf packs? Territories would have overlapped and inbreeding may have become endemic, causing one canine virus to wipe out much of the viable population?

Just speculating...
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They survived ok from 6100 BCE until 1500 AD ok,
 
Souleater said:
They survived ok from 6100 BCE until 1500 AD ok,
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But would they have continued to survive later? They were already pretty sparse by 1500 - if we take hunting out of the equation, how much longer would viable packs have managed to carry on? By now would they be fairly interbred and harmful mutations starting to show? Or would they have split into smaller, disparate packs with smaller territories?
 
If they were sparse by 1500 then that would have been down to hunting by humans. The UK without humans and their activities would be a paradise for wolves then and now.

Incidentally, I know someone who lives on the outskirts of Dartmoor (near Tavistock) and swears he encountered a wolf whilst walking alone in the woods. I told him it was probably just a pet husky but he swears not, and said it simply stopped and looked him straight in the eyes, confidently 'sizing him up' in a manner that that I have read is a wolf behaviour. My money is still on a husky or Alsatian, but who knows...?
 
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WeirdExeter said:
If they were sparse by 1500 then that would have been down to hunting by humans. The UK without humans and their activities would be a paradise for wolves then and now.

Incidentally, I know someone who lives on the outskirts of Dartmoor (near Tavistock) and swears he encountered a wolf whilst walking alone in the woods. I told him it was probably just a pet husky but he swears not, and said it simply stopped and looked him straight in the eyes, confidently 'sizing him up' in a manner that that I have read is a wolf behaviour. My money is still on a husky or Alsatian, but who knows...?
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lt’s worth remembering that husky sledding and racing is a popular activity in the UK (they pull wheeled sleds). l assume that this would lead to huskies being sighted more often than previously, as they weren’t a hugely popular dog breed here until recent years. This might account for a few “wolf” sightings.

maximus otter
 
maximus otter said:
lt’s worth remembering that husky sledding and racing is a popular activity in the UK (they pull wheeled sleds). l assume that this would lead to huskies being sighted more often than previously, as they weren’t a hugely popular dog breed here until recent years. This might account for a few “wolf” sightings.

maximus otter
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A few years ago we were watching a 10k race on the sea front. Someone came along and sat on a boulder in the middle of a grassy area behind us. He had a pack of huskies with him, all on leads. What was obviously the dominant male in the pack stood on the boulder and, very wolf like, howled into the wind, whilst the others just lay there quite content. I had to laugh at some of the comments of the local "intelligentsia" about how wolves shouldn't be allowed in public places etc. The pack leader continued to howl until a passerby stroked him and he rolled about on his back whilst his chest was rubbed. Someone commented that he didn't think wolves could be tamed, which made me choke on me chips.
 
Huskies dont look like wolves.

Friend many years ago had a Greenland, a skewbald thing, and a Siberian, a fluffy blue and white creature with blue eyes.

They all have curl tails.

You would be better off with an alsatian.
 
maximus otter said:
lt’s worth remembering that husky sledding and racing is a popular activity in the UK (they pull wheeled sleds). l assume that this would lead to huskies being sighted more often than previously, as they weren’t a hugely popular dog breed here until recent years. This might account for a few “wolf” sightings.

maximus otter
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I think Game of Thrones had a lot to answer for in the 'huskies as pets' thing. Various kinds of husky played the direwolves. People don't realise how hyperactive they are and how appalling their recall can be, and a lot were bought simply because they looked like the 'wolves' people had seen in Game of Thrones.
 
Kondoru said:
Huskies dont look like wolves.

Friend many years ago had a Greenland, a skewbald thing, and a Siberian, a fluffy blue and white creature with blue eyes.

They all have curl tails.

You would be better off with an alsatian.
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I too thought Huskys had curly tails but according to the internet this is a Siberian Husky. Looks fairly wolf-like to me.

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Yithian said:
I think that wolves are remarkable and fascinating creatures, but I sure as hell don't want them living nearby--because they are wild and dangerous (in a host of ways).

The British public are brainless.
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We now have polling to support this.

Also, sorry, American Forteans, your folks have come out even more brainless.

I would dearly love to watch the attempts of those 2-8% to best a gorilla or a grizzly bear in unarmed combat.

What do they think they are going to do to an elephant to 'win'?

Further up the chart, I've seen photos of what chimpanzees do to humans when enraged.

The public is thinking of cuddles with Bubbles.

Screenshot 2021-05-22 at 8.54.05 PM.jpg
 
Yithian said:
We now have polling to support this.

Also, sorry, American Forteans, your folks have come out even more brainless.

I would dearly love to watch the attempts of those 2-8% to best a gorilla or a grizzly bear in unarmed combat.

What do they think they are going to do to an elephant to 'win'?

Further up the chart, I've seen photos of what chimpanzees do to humans when enraged.

The public is thinking of cuddles with Bubbles.

View attachment 39736
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I remember reading in a perfectly serious book on American Mammals that a grizzly bear can run faster than a human, can climb faster than a human, can swim faster than a human, and is on average three times as strong. The advice if confronted by one was to play dead. Most people couldn't fight off an angry medium sized or bigger dog, let alone a wolf.

Reintroducing wolves anywhere in the British Isles would be utter madness - but hey, that seems the norm in today's clownworld.

I really like wolves. I hope there is always somewhere they can run wild. But a small crowded set of islands is not the right place.
 
Yithian said:
We now have polling to support this.

Also, sorry, American Forteans, your folks have come out even more brainless.

I would dearly love to watch the attempts of those 2-8% to best a gorilla or a grizzly bear in unarmed combat.

What do they think they are going to do to an elephant to 'win'?

Further up the chart, I've seen photos of what chimpanzees do to humans when enraged.

The public is thinking of cuddles with Bubbles.

View attachment 39736
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Those few who think they can fight extremely dangerous animals might be giving joke answers, are fantasists in their own little worlds or "hardman" types.

I would have included giant squid, blue whales and Komodo dragons in the poll. Maybe a Yeti and Nessie too.
 
Kondoru said:
I think its problematic we even need such a poll.

Why?
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I don't know, but I think it's the same logic behind people volunteering the question of "who would win in a fight, Superman or Godzilla". It doesn't even seem to be a power move (sometimes people will bring up questions like a challenge, because they think they can make you look bad? which I also do not understand), I mean they really do think it's a productive topic. There's this mentality of "you have to pick a side and argue about it, even if you don't actually really think that" and it's weird.
At any rate, people find some things fun to talk about and discuss, and compare opinions on. Beats me.
 
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