For various reasons I have been reading up on wolves recently. I have a  deep love of the wolf brother, dating back to childhood, but I have been wondering about the plans to re-introduce them here in Scotland, the following is some information from the wolf trust.

From the wolf trust. http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/indextwo.html

Why The Highlands?

The Highlands of Scotland is the last region where wolves lived before people exterminated the wolf in Britain in the 17th century. Wolves survived longest in the Highlands because of the remote and rugged terrain.

Certain factors make the reintroduction of wolves possible in the Highlands as no where else in Britain (or western Europe). First, there is abundant food and space in the Highlands for wolves. Second, wolves can pay their way through wolf ecotourism. See below.

Abundant Food

700,000 red deer and roe deer live in Scotland (Harris et al 1995). They are the wolf’s natural prey. There are more deer in Scotland than in almost any other part of western Europe. So wolves will have plenty of food.

Space

The Scottish Highlands are about 25,000km2 in area, ie a third of Scotland and a tenth of Britain. About 200,000 people live there (Scottish Environment Statistics) mainly on the coast. A quarter of the people live in one town, Inverness.

The Highlands are one of the few really big areas in western Europe with a relatively tiny human population (shown on any good atlas of population density). So wolves in the Highlands will be least disturbed by human activity.
“We know that wolves are neither beasts of waste and desolation, nor varmints, villains and vermin. They are simply wild beings enmeshed, like ourselves, in the tapestry of life.”

- William Lynn, Canis Lupus Cosmopolis: Wolves in a Cosmopolitan Worldview.

 
I know there are some large landowners here that are looking into re-wilding as a scheme to make money and supposedly help the highlands return to an earlier “wildness” dating back to a time when crofters had next too nothing, a time before sheep and extensive grazing changed the landscape.

I am for the return of the wolf, I see the potentials especially the huge amount of deer, Roe in particular , whose numbers need to be balanced.