Britain and Japan, both island nations where anything remotely threatening was wiped out long ago. The largest predator in Japan is the salamander. A meter-long specimen will make news.<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10965843/Giant-salamander-discovered-on-walk-to-school-in-Japan.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/1096...</a><p>What's the largest predator in Britain? The badger? The fox? Or that housecat everyone thought was a lion.<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-19397686" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-19397686</a><p>Talk to anyone in the pacific northwest. If you take only the slightest precautions you have nothing to fear from the wolves, cougars and bears. You are far more likely to be eaten by a fellow human. You are more likely to be killed by deer. They are already all over Britain. So the wolves will in all probability reduce the number of animal-related deaths.<p><a href="http://www.therichest.com/animals/top-10-animals-that-kill-humans/" rel="nofollow">http://www.therichest.com/animals/top-10-animals-that-kill-h...</a>
Here is a HN submission (<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8448929" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8448929</a>) for the <i>How Wolves Change Rivers</i> video that is mentioned in this article. (It was posted exactly a year ago, a coincidental anniversary of the topic here on HN).<p>There are some good discussions and great links to related content including the TED talk on 'rewilding' by George Monbiot who narrates the <i>How Wolves Change Rivers</i> video.
The environmental benefits of re-introducing wolves are well described. However, with more and more people packed into the south of England, the economic benefits from tourism are going to be enormous. For example the re-introduction of the White-tailed Eagle benefits the economy of the island of Mull to the tune of 5 million UK pounds per year.<p><a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/wildlifeatwork_tcm9-282134.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/wildlifeatwork_tcm9-282134.pdf</a>
Lack of wolves and bears has caused some interesting side effects in Southern England where I live. Namely, the deer population has exploded as their only predator is now the motorcar. It's pretty cool seeing massive flocks of them and the occasional close encounter on my mountain bike; I once fed one some lettuce from a sandwich.<p>On the other hand, they are eating all the woods, starting with the saplings which is causing real harm to the sustainability of forests.<p>Predictably, the notion of culling some is very controversial, especially from nature loving people. But the alternative is bringing back the wolves. The wolves will do lots of wolfy things like killing dogs and eating livestock and be equally controversial.<p>(edit: SPAG)
You know, we could avoid a lot of the culturally ingrained fear of wolves if we instead "returned Labrador Retrievers to the wild", and let feral packs of them roam Scotland pursuing deer. So cute.
There are some great charities trying to restore the ancient woodlands of Scotland - the Trees for Life site has a lot of good information about some of the issues relating to high deer populations:<p><a href="http://treesforlife.org.uk/" rel="nofollow">http://treesforlife.org.uk/</a>
<i>"To be lying in your tent in the middle of nowhere and to hear a wolf cry. Now that must be quite something."</i><p>The first time? Maybe. It quickly becomes distracting, annoying, and (depending on the distance) frightening.<p>The only decent argument I can find for reintroducing wolves is that it would help keep wild deer in check. But the costs of wolves are far higher than the costs of too many deer. Deer don't kill livestock or humans. And of course, wolves aren't the only solution to reducing the deer population. They can be culled in other ways. The whole thing seems like a non-starter to me.<p>I think most who are in favor of reintroducing wolves are just infatuated with charismatic megafauna. "Wolves look cool and they used to be on the island, so let's bring 'em back." …or something like that. Then they rationalize their conclusion with arguments about tourism and culling deer.<p>What if instead of wolves, it was crocodiles that had been eradicated from Scotland? I seriously doubt there would be as many supporters, yet the same arguments for reintroduction apply.
In the 17th century one of the nicknames some English people had for Ireland was Wolfland.<p>The century following the Cromwellian conquest saw a bounty-led drive to exterminate wolves with the last one being killed in 1786.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolves_in_Ireland" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolves_in_Ireland</a>
Wolves also returned (naturally I believe) to Denmark last year:
<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/denmark/11213512/Wolves-roaming-wild-in-Denmark-for-first-time-in-200-years.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/denmark/112...</a>
It is interesting how something considered harmful can have beneficial effects. In this case reintroducing wolves could control the deer population and help the re-establish some of the Caledonian Forest.<p>There was another example I read recently: the Indian Vulture Crisis[0]. Apparently the vulture population in India has been declining dramatically. I wouldn't have thought vultures were particularly good, but their declining population has led to all sorts of significant issues such as an explosion in the number of wild dogs and the spread of disease. It has been traced to the administration of an anti-inflammatory called diclofenac to livestock.<p>Nature has many complex interactions.<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_vulture_crisis" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_vulture_crisis</a>