Reintroducing the wolf to Scotland

As a UK based large carnivore charity, we receive numerous enquiries about reintroduction of wolves to Scotland. This section of the website aims to clarify some of the issues surrounding a controversial topic.

In order for any reintroduction of the wolf to Scotland to be successful, it is first necessary to work to secure a safe and viable future for wolves in areas of Europe where they have managed to survive human persecution, and in areas where they have returned, aided by legal protection and European Community policies and conventions encouraging conservation of native habitats, flora and fauna. The many lessons to be learnt from this can then be applied to the challenge of co-existence with large carnivores in the Scottish Highlands.

Wolves and Humans aims to present the facts about wolves and share experiences working with people who live and work alongside wolves and other large carnivores, in order to enable people to consider and discuss the issues at a more meaningful level than sensationalist media stories, and hopefully lay the foundations for informed debate about possible reintroduction in the future. There is still a lot to learn from other countries about co-existing with wolves; resolving problems of livestock conflict, impact of human development on wolves, management of wolf populations and many other issues.

Reintroducing the wolf to the Scottish Highlands was first proposed in the late 1960s, but the idea only started to gain wider publicity and support following the reintroductions of the red wolf to the south-eastern United States in 1989, and the grey wolf to Yellowstone National Park in 1995. The media are always happy to report a story about reintroduction, keeping the topic constantly in the public forum; most proposals reported are unfounded, and lacking in scientific credibility. Although the British government is required to consider the reintroduction of native species under article 22 of the EU Habitats and Species Directive of 1992, any proposal for reintroduction to Scotland would have to be approved by Scottish Natural Heritage, the government organisation responsible for wildlife and habitats in Scotland, and their position remains that they have no plans to consider reintroduction of wolves.

This is not going to change until something persuades them that reintroduction would not be a massively controversial issue and would be widely welcomed by the whole spectrum of land users and interests in Scotland. There are however pointers for the future; agriculture in Scotland, particularly sheep farming, which has always been one of the major stumbling blocks for returning large carnivores, is changing. From January 2005 subsidies based on production, where farmers and crofters receive payment per head of sheep or cattle, were replaced by Single Farm Payments. This means that farms and crofts receive a subsidy regardless of whether livestock are grazed, or crops grown. The new subsidy will also require recipients to meet new rules for Good Agricultural or Environmental Condition.

This change, coupled with a Scottish Executive ruling doubling the amount of land eligible for the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme, which provides grants for regeneration of native woodland and forestry, could see sheep being replaced by woodland restoration, thus increasing suitable habitat for both predators and their prey.

In the meantime, there is much valuable work being carried out by British conservation groups to restore habitat, particularly the Caledonian forest. Although an attempt to reintroduce beaver to Scotland has stalled, plans are underway for an experimental reintroduction in the south of England; if this is successful, and is followed by other reintroductions - possibly wild boar, which are already present in many counties as farm escapees, and lynx, then the ecosystem in Scotland will in future years be a much healthier place to welcome back the apex predator - the wolf.

Schemes such as Paul Lister’s vision for the Alladale Estate north of Inverness - to transform a 23,000 acre (9,300 hectares, or 37 square miles) sporting estate into a wilderness wildlife reserve that supports a balanced and rich ecosystem with a ‘controlled reintroduction’ of top carnivores in a fenced environment - may be the way forward. An area of Scotland would begin the process of ecological recovery without the cost to other land users in Scotland of a general reintroduction; this seems a far better alternative to a premature release into an environment where people have not had to live with wolves for three hundred years.

Alladale could be a flagship for eco-tourism in the Highlands, providing proof that wolves and other charismatic ‘megafauna’ will draw visitors to the region, providing income for local businesses and jobs for local people. Other estate owners will be watching to see if there is money to be made from the presence of wolves. With sheep farming significantly reduced, this could result in very different attitudes among landowners and locals to the return of wolves and other locally extinct animals, which in turn will encourage Scottish Natural Heritage to look again at our obligation under the EU Habitats Directive to consider the possibility of returning species such as the wolf and lynx.