[Alan]

As much as I would love to see wolves back in the wild in the UK, I just don't see it being viable in todays countryside. And believe me, I hate to say that.

I'm afraid this will remain, until major shifts in thinking and attitude are adopted by everyone in positions of power and influence, not to mention the general public.

Britain today is a heavily managed environment, and I'm afraid there simply isn't the room for them to free-range accross the countryside. True wildernes just doesn't exist in this country anymore. The cost of managing the scheme would be immense, and the money spent could easily be used elsewhere. The biggest opposition would obviously be the farming lobby, and only a fully regulated compensation scheme would eleviate their fears as regard to livestock loss. But what about domestic pets! I don't see how you could make provision for these.

In Scotland at the estate of Alladale, just north of Inverness, there is currently a proposed scheme that will fence off something like 20,000 acres, to create an enclosed habitat that some of our extinct but native mammals will be introduced. These include wolf, bear and lynx, as well as their prey species such as red deer, roe dear, wild boar etc. There are enough obstacles in the way of this scheme, let alone letting the animals free-range.

The only way I can see even remotely getting a reintroduction scheme off the ground, would be to first use an offshore island as a experiment. This would at least give the experts and us a better understanding of what it would entail.

The biggest obstacle we have when considering any kind of reintroduction is the creation of suitable habitat. Until the habitat is there, there is no point even thinking about the rest of the food chain. A little bit of habitat here, and a little bit there, is no good for animals such as wolves, which can range upto 25 miles on a typical hunt.

I would want to see them reintroduced - if the right habitat and room were available, but in reality I dont think it will happen.