Could the wolf return to Ireland's countryside?

Could wolves return to Ireland's wilderness?

Could the howl of the wolf once again be heard in the Irish countryside?

The animals were hunted to extinction in Ireland in the late 18th Century, but there are increasing calls from ecologists to bring them back, potentially alongside another large predator, the lynx.

The benefits, they argue, range from controlling deer numbers and so protecting forests, to reducing road accidents.

One of the most prominent backers of the idea has been Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, although he says it could be decades away.

However, the idea of reintroducing large predators is, not surprisingly, unpopular with Ireland's farmers.

Sheep farmers in particular fear attacks on their flocks and the impact on rural communities.

If there's one key reason for the calls to bring back the predators it's the ever expanded deer population in Ireland.

Overgrazing by them has led to damage to forests as well as crops.

Earlier this year, the chair of the Wicklow Deer Management Partnership said there could be more than 100,000 of the animals in that county alone.

Last year, 55,000 deer were culled in Ireland.

Ecologist Padraic Fogarty says that Ireland had pressing targets to meet for climate and biodiversity.

"Among those is restoring elements of our natural ecosystem particularly forests, peatlands and so on," he says.

"You just can’t have natural ecosystems that work without big predators.

"So if we want to re-establish big areas of forest that’s not going to be possible if we’re going to have deer numbers that are totally out of control or we don’t have the balance in those forests so that they can re-generate and perpetuate themselves over the long-term."

Eurasian lynx have been reintroduced in many parts of Europe

Killian McLoughlin owns a wildlife park in County Donegal and is an advocate of reintroducing wolves to Ireland.

"It’s eco-system restoration, it’s not just opening a gate and letting the wolves out, it's restoring the eco-system to what it was," he says.

Mr McLoughlin adds that culling deer is not working.

"The first year that they culled deer in Ireland they killed 5,000 deer, last year they killed 50,000," he says.

"Every year, it’s cull, cull, cull and the numbers are still increasing."

He says by chasing their prey, wolves ensure they catch "the sick, the diseased, the old and the frail" and create a healthy deer population.

"The diseased ones that they’re taking out of the population are diseases that we really fear, like Lyme disease that affects thousands of people in Ireland," he says.

"They will also take out TB, which farmers dread.

"Crop framers have their crops destroyed by overpopulation of deer – the wolves will actually help the crop farmers, the tillage farmers."

Mr McLoughlin also cites a US study that suggested a 23% in reduction in road accidents involving deer in places with a wolf population.

"Wolves create a landscape of fear that keeps deer moving, it keeps deer away from the roads, it keeps deer up in the highlands where we want them, not down in our fields or in our gardens," he says.

Killian McLoughlin says wolves can help maintain a healthier deer population

The other large predator that could be introduced is the Eurasian lynx.

Dr Josh Twining is a population and restoration ecologist now based at Cornell University in New York State, who previously held a postdoctoral research position at Queen’s University Belfast.

He says the benefits of bringing back lynx would be wide-ranging.

"Ecologically, restoring a key apex predator has the potential to have cascading impacts on our ecosystem and their functioning," he says.

"It's likely to contribute to the control of overabundant and highly damaging deer populations that have lacked natural predators in Ireland for hundreds of years, and thus benefit the natural regeneration of forests."

Josh Twining says European lynx populations increased when people "stopped killing them"

A recent study suggested that there may not be enough current forest cover for the return of lynx in Ireland to be viable at this time.

However, Dr Twining says the recovery of lynx, and other large predators across Europe has "challenged and overturned longstanding edicts about the habitat and space requirements of these carnivores.

"Despite intensive farming and urban sprawl, all it took for these animals to recover in mainland Europe was for people to stop killing them."

He says the public would have nothing to fear from the prospect of lynx reintroductions.

"There is not a single record of a human attack, let alone mortality from a wild Eurasian lynx anywhere in the world," he says.

Ireland's deer population continues to expand

Ecological arguments in favour of predator reintroductions aren't enough to overcome the fears of Ireland's farmers.

John Joe Fitzgerald is a sheep farmer from County Kerry and member of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association.

"We have the domestic dogs in this country, they’re killing anything between 300 and 500, maybe 600 animals a year," he says.

"We can’t control the domestic dogs we have, how are we going to control a wild animal?

"I can’t see any way that they could reintroduce these animals, it wouldn’t be fair on the rural communities, it wouldn’t be fair on farmers and even small towns."

Mr Fitzgerald says across Europe where wolves have returned, thousands of sheep are being killed by them every year.

"Are we going to live in fear now that our animals are going to be slaughtered?" he says.

"The vast tracts of land are not in this country to reintroduce wolves, even if they’re going to be controlled.

"The only known predator to the wolf in Ireland is a gun.

"It’s not nice to reintroduce wolves and then we as farmers or rural communities have to start shooting them – it makes no sense."

Sheep farmers fear attacks on their flocks by the predators

Padraic Fogarty said an important part of any reintroduction projects would be to pay farmers and local communities.

"We’re not talking about compensation, because that kind of implies damage, but if we start talking about the rewards communities could get from having large predators in their areas then I think the attitude might be different and we might have a different conversation that wouldn't be so vexed," he says.

Josh Twining agrees with this approach.

"Mitigation programmes in countries where people share their landscapes with large carnivores vary substantially, but increasing in popularity is the use of conservation performance payments," he says.

"I think for lynx reintroduction to ever gain any real traction, it needs to be led in collaboration with those who would be most affected, the sheep farmers, the game keepers, the custodians of the land."

Killian McLaughlin says that there is a "need to start educating people first of all and educating them that they [wolves] don’t kill people and they actually benefit us as well".

He adds: "There’s lots of ways of protecting livestock and our neighbours on the continent have gotten very good at protecting them."

Padraic Fogarty says that technically, these reintroductions would be feasible and that the species themselves could survive and adapt - "but it’s living alongside humans that is the problem".

Mr McLoughlin says it wouldn't take many wolves to balance the ecosystem.

"Top predators never overpopulate because if they do their food source disappears and they disappear," he says.

"We could initially start off with one pack and study them, but we would need a bit of genetic diversity, so you would probably need several pairs."

He adds: "It would really be about giving them the basics that they need to survive and then just leaving them well enough alone and letting nature take its course, because nature survived without us for millions and millions of years."