History and the return of Wolves to the UK - Rewilding Britain

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History and the return of wolves to the UK - Rewilding Britain

The History of Wolves in the UK

The United Kingdom has lived without large carnivores for many years, and as such residents have become accustomed to an environment without them, and will only perceive wild/or predatory animals as ‘something to be feared’. We have a broken and fearful relationship with wildlife in this country. Unfortunately, like other countries that have persecuted wolves throughout history, the UK ingested folklore tales, as well as inventing them, which brought the image of the wolf as an evil being.

Wolves have inhabited much of the planet, from the arctic to the tropics. They are a very successful predator, and as so were able to thrive in a range of diverse environments. Due to this, after the ice age they crossed lands and evolved easily. The UK was no exception, and skeletal remains can verify this. Early Roman and Saxon chronicles also suggest that wolves were widespread across the UK and indiginous to England and Ireland.

In the encroachment of land, the wolf being an opportunist, would at times prey on ‘mans’ property, thus birthing a conflict and igniting competition, defence and greed. With this domestication of animals, the wolf was persecuted mercilessly, which was mainly driven by myths and folklore portraying the wolf as evil and ‘a pest’.

We need the wolf, it doesn't need us. We need nature, it doesn't need us. Until the UK raises it tolerance and can accept this, and be willing to allow the wolf to take a little, returning the wolf would be a pointless endeavour, and at the expense of the wolf.


References


Artist: Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553)
Title: Werewolf
Date: circa 1512
Medium woodcut Collection

Herzogliches Museum
Canis dirus Leidy, 1858 - fossil dire wolf skeleton from the Pleistocene of North America. (public display, Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Hays, Kansas, USA) Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, Carnivora, Canidae
Date: 13 June 2012, 10:53:41
Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/31471259054/
Author: James St. John

Library reference: ICV No 22027
Photo number: V0021608
Full Bibliographic Record: http://catalogue.wellcomelibrary.org/record=b1197768

Source/Photographer
https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/14/ee/ba930e2352f6833d87ed966a94d0.jpg
Gallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0021608.html
Wellcome Collection gallery (2018-04-06): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/xnnfdqgb CC-BY-4.0

Anglo-Saxon wolf hunt with wolfhounds
Date: 1859
Source: The British wolf-hunters: A Tale of England in the Olden Time (a novel)
Author: Thomas Miller


By Unknown author - http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_14_B_VI, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27947432


Date: 1897
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14597440649/
Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/saintsmissionari02adam/saintsmissionari02adam#page/n392/mode/1up
Author: Internet Archive Book Images

By Photographed by en:User:Geogre, original author, monastic scribes in Peterborough - English Wikipedia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=852691

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=635883

By Unknown author - Sedilia at Westminster Abbey, erected during the reign of Edward I (1272- 1307), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75816295

Author: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting)

Polychrome painting of wolf in the Font-de-Gaume cavern.
Français : Relevé de peinture polychrome de loup dans la grotte de Font-de-Gaume.
Date:1915
Source: Men of the old stone age : their environment, life and art
Author: drawing by Henri Breuil, published by Henry Fairfield Osborn

https://wildlifecoexistence.org/

Garry Marvin - Wolf
Jim Crumley - The last wolf