Wolf Trust Highland Recovery - About Wolves - British Wolves - Why Reintroduce - For & Against - Why The Highlands - Timeliness - How Many Wolves - Reintro Scheme Outline Here are arguments for and against a wolf reintroduction in Britain. Web Address www.wolftrust.org.uk Email Address Wolf Trust

Arguments For & Against The Wolf Reintroduction Red deer stag with hinds on the hill. Should wolves or man control their populations? Courtesy Gerald & Buff Corsi, California Academy of Sciences: CalPhoto Here are some opposing views about reintroducing wolves in Britain to the Scottish Highlands. Do you think these arguments are fair? What do you think?      Against Wolves   For Wolves 1)    Wolves are vermin and therefore were exterminated in Britain for good reason.   Wolves are a fundamental part of our natural heritage for their ecological, ethical, cultural and scientific value. 2)    Britain, unlike the US and the European continent, is only an island and too small to carry a population of wolves.   Wolves used to live successfully in Britain and can do so again. 3)    It is well known that wolves kill people, especially children.   Wolves do not usually harm people; their lethal reputation is largely a myth. 4)    Wolves slaughter livestock and are a serious economic burden for livestock farmers.   Wolves cause no harm to livestock industries, although they are an economic problem to a small minority of farmers. 5)    Wolves kill so many deer there will not be enough for hunters.   People kill 75,000 red and roe deer annually in Britain. Wolves might kill only around 20 deer a year each. 6)    Wolves are not necessary in the Highlands as man has successfully taken over the role of the wolf for hundreds of years.   Wolves are nature's top predator in the Highlands; their reintroduction will be a major step to restore the Highland's natural integrity. 7)    Setting wolves on wild animals like deer is cruel because wolves cause suffering by inflicting slow and painful deaths.   Wolves do not cause their quarry excessive pain or stress; prey are killed more quickly and painlessly than livestock going for slaughter. 8)    Tourism in the Highlands will suffer because people will be afraid to walk the hills and will stay away.   Wolves will generate income and local employment in the Highlands through wolf ecotourism: people paying to experience wild wolves. 9)    Reintroductions are expensive; the wolf reintroductions in the US cost tens of millions of dollars, which we in Britain cannot afford.   A wolf reintroduction is not necessarily more expensive than many other things and costs only as much as you want to spend on it. 10)    Britain is a party to European Union and Council of Europe conventions about considering the reintroduction of wolves, but we should ignore outside interference.   Britain is a member of these organisations and as a player in Europe we should honour our commitments. 11)    Britain has enough problems conserving its existing wildlife without reintroducing wolves and complicating matters.   We cannot tell poor countries to conserve their large predators if we cannot make the effort to do so ourselves. 12)    Wolves cannot be reintroduced as long as there are three million sheep roaming the Highlands.   We must prepare now for the wolf reintroduction because sheep farming in the Highlands is not economically viable and may not last much longer. 13)    The Highlands must be reforested before wolves can be reintroduced successfully.   Wolves live in all manner of terrain, from Arctic snow fields to farm fields, so the Highlands are fine as they are. Page revised 2.03