Let’s turn the terror of White Fang to our advantage
The fear of all things lupine is as old as humanity itself. The howl of a lone wolf in the mountains above. A pair of yellow eyes glimpsed fleetingly in the forest. From the monstrous Fenrir of Norse mythology to the Big Bad Wolf of Little Red Riding Hood, such images permeate our culture. But these are ancient tales, long since confined to bedtimes and classrooms – so we are horrified to learn that Celia Hollingworth, a British tourist in Greece, may have been mauled to death not by stray dogs but by wolves.
This tragedy should focus our minds on a debate that is taking place across Europe – and is already reaching our shores. After near extinction in the 19th century, wolves and bears clung on in eastern Europe, small pockets of western Europe and Scandinavia. Yet with the fall of the Iron Curtain, and the rise of EU environmental protection, they have started to recover. Switzerland saw its first returning wolf in 1995, and they arrived in Rome this week. There are now between 10,000 and 25,000 across Europe.
With them have come heated arguments. Wolf attacks on humans are rare. More contentious is their impact on livestock – killing sheep in particular and disrupting their breeding. So why not push the wolves back again? Because Europe needs them, and so does Britain.
This isn’t about ecozealotry – it’s about how we manage our land and our environment. For centuries we have tried to do things in spite of nature, forgetting that it can be our most powerful aid. Take Britain’s squirrel wars: a small army of conservationists has been waging a losing battle against the invasive grey squirrels to protect our native red ones. Yet there are still up to 10 million greys in Britain and only 150,000 reds. While we spend millions of pounds of public money on this ineffective war, however, Ireland’s reds are resurgent with little human help. The cause is the pine marten, a native of the British Isles, once close to extinction but now thriving and munching its way through the grey population. Red squirrels, which evolved alongside pine martens, are smaller, nimbler and spend less time on the ground; thus they avoid becoming dinner.
What has this got to do with wolves? Britain’s deer population is now higher than it has been for a thousand years, with 1.5 million thought to roam our land. They are terrorising our crops, our ancient woodlands and our wildlife. Calls are already being made for a cull – but again, why spend more money and manhours on an effort that can only ever be temporary, when we can get nature to do the work for us? We should look instead to the wolves of Yellowstone National Park in the USA, whose reintroduction in 1995 has dramatically reduced deer numbers. This has restored balance to the environment, creating a cascade of benefits that includes more beavers, birds, bears, trees and fish.
We can do the same, but we must learn to live alongside predators once again. To prevent wolves from damaging livestock farming, for instance, we would need more electric fences, guard dogs and automatic lights. That would take effort and funding. But in the long run, farmers would also benefit from a healthier natural landscape and the economic opportunities that brings, from tourism to reduced flooding and healthier soils.
If it breaks the eternal cycle of failed and damaging battles against nature, the cost would be worth it. FOLLOW Daniel Capurro on Twitter @Capurroddaniel; READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/opinion