Not so wildlife

John Munro claims I said the escape of a wolf from a private zoo (a wolf sanctuary is certainly not a “zoo”) shows they are dangerous to people (Letters, 23 January).

Quite aside from the fact that I said nothing of the kind, he missed my point completely, which was that Great British Paradox whereby a contentious moot is always perfectly safe if done in the Scottish Highlands yet creates blind terror when accidentally put into practice on a tiny scale in England’s Home Counties (incidentally, it was in Berkshire, not Bedfordshire – my apologies).

As I stated in The Scotsman letters back in July 2017, any wolves released into Britain’s wilds would be doomed to ruination by tourists and sentimentalists long before they get any chance to eat their first child; to paraphrase US writer Shel Silverstein’s humorous warning on the ease of certain wildlife to semi-domesticity, they’ll fill them with cakes and goodies until they’re too fat to move.

MARK BOYLE Linn Park Gardens Johnstone, Renfrewshire