Enough Trouble with Foxes’ – NFU Leader
A FARMERS’ union chief has hit out at proposals from a campaign group to introduce wild animals, including wolves and big cats, to the countryside around Wrexham.
The Wild Beasts Trust wants to see carnivorous wild animals returned to land across the UK, and says the Wrexham area, with its open countryside and wooded areas, could be enhanced by packs of wolves and the introduction of lynx, and would also be ideal for moose.
The Scottish-based organisation campaigns for the reintroduction of animals including bears, wild boars and grey whales to the UK and its surrounding coastline.
Trust director Peter Clarke said: “It may not be possible to bring the dragon to Wales, but we could certainly consider the wolverine, which is quite dragon-like and very handsome.
“My favourite one for the area would be the moose. They are very engaging and attractive creatures, and I think they would enhance the landscape.
“Another issue wild animals could tackle would be a surfeit of deer. If that is the case, you would need some wolves or lynx to deal with the problem.”
Mr Clarke, a former Conservative Parliamentary candidate who says he was once offered the opportunity to stand in Alyn and Deeside, added he could also envisage walruses being introduced to the Dee Estuary and North Wales coast.
He said: “They are wonderful, amazing creatures. Fisherman think they would eat the fish, but all they eat are limpets.”
Ken Bellis, National Farmers’ Union Clywd County Chairman, dismissed the idea of introducing carnivorous wild animals to the area.
He said: “We have enough trouble as it is with foxes, so to add wolves would not be a good idea at all.
“It would especially be a problem in forested areas where foxes are already a danger to lambs as it is, so this would be a bad move.
“It would not help at all, particularly if we were not allowed to kill these wild animals. I would not welcome this kind of idea and we do not need this at all.”
Peter Watson, executive director of The Deer Initiative, a partnership aimed at promoting the sustainable and balanced population of wild deer, which is based in Wrexham, said the idea of using carnivores to control deer was an interesting concept, but would in his view prove impractical.
He said: “The practicalities of carnivore ranges and human population ranges in the UK would make it very difficult to achieve.”
Mr Clarke admitted that the wolf and lynx were the most contentious candidates for reintroduction.
However, he said farmers should not be concerned. “We still carry a vague folk memory of these two carnivores as dangerous to humans and to farm stock, especially sheep,” he said.
“Everyone has Little Red Riding Hood in their mental furniture, but that is far from the reality.
“I have been to places on the continent where they have wolves, and a wolf would prefer to eat a hare, a rabbit or a vole than a sheep.
“You can look at Europe for areas where this has actually happened for the evidence that it can work.”
Evening Leader: 12th September 2006
