I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but what do you guys think of reintroducing wolves to Scotland?  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7212888.stm - scroll down a bit to read about the wolves.
Personally I think it would be a stupid, ill thought out idea ending with the unnecassary (sp?)  culling of hundreds of wolves. But it would be interesting to hear the different views of other Champdoggers.

It's a non starter really as there isn't enough room in the UK to avoid conflict with peopel and domestic livestock and for dispersal.

i like the idea but i can see the problems. however it might help reduce the massive deer culls we have to have all the time. i dunno, it's a lovely idea but you can see it going so wrong can't you?

I come from a place where natural predators do still exist. There is a lot of unihabited land for them to roam but there's still the occasional runner, hiker or child that's killed or eaten - usually by mountain lions in California. I can't see how wolves could be introduced into the limited space the UK has without running into people too often. I also think that humans have lived for so long on this island with no dangerous animals that getting people to realise they could be attacked while out walking, and to act accordingly, would be difficult.

It's a lovely idea in principle but I don't think it will ever work. There are large areas of Scotland with very low populations, on holiday with the dogs last year I walked all day without seeing another person...but I did see lots of sheep (and deer, eagles and other wildlife). Yes, we do have a huge deer problem here, but as an intelligent predator I don't think it will take a wolf long to work out that the white fluffy things can't run as fast as deer, can't jump as well and are generally easier to catch. Hill sheep may be low value, but they do have value, I can't imagine farmers will appreciate them being eaten - and of course deer culls will still have to happen.

I agree.  It is one thing supporting a species that is dying out because of man's foolishness - like the vultures in India - being killed off by the drugs they give cattle.  Without the vultures in the ecosystem the balance of nature is changed - nothing to do the cleaning up.  However to reintroduce an animal that has not belonged in our country for so long is foolishness - let's put all the efforts into keeping some of the animals that we already have.

Its just so sad that the wildlife are losing so much of their natural habitat as it is- I love wolves beautiful animals :) hey relocate them all to my back yard lol

It simply wouldn't work.  The only vaguely possibly viable place would be the scottish highlands - but there simply isn't enough free area (or correct habitat) up there to support a sustainable population.

Back in 2003 I visited the highland wildlife park, and happened to reach the wolf enclosure in the middle of a talk - this was being covered by the keeper who was speaking.  He suggested that Caledonian forest is the only really suitable habitat in this country, and there simply isn't enough of it - and it would take far, far too long to regrow some to the necessary quality (or amount) for a feasible reintroduction.  He did give other reasons against an re-intro but it was 4 1/2 years ago, my memory fails :-P

Now the beavers on the other hand - that is possible.  A couple of years back I visisted a reserve where a few beavers had been let loose in a carefully enclosed area.  They had dug drainage channels and the like, but on the whole were a positive addition to the area.  I imagine there would be potential problems with agriculture and the like, but there are areas where it could work.

But wouldn't that be the same problem as the coypu that they finally managed to exterminate in the Wetlands?