THE 21st CENTURY WOLF

In September 2015, following the Wolf Awareness Weekend conference in Edinburgh, the Wolves and Humans Foundation undertook a short tour of the Scottish Highlands with evenings of talks at two village halls preceded by a warm-up event at the Highland Wildlife Park.

Background

The idea for the tour originated from a discussion with Roy Dennis at the ‘Wild Free and Coming Back’ conference at Findhorn in 2009. He suggested that Wolves and Humans should come to Scotland and talk about wolves, not to promote reintroduction, but to inform and encourage discussion. This is in keeping with one of the stated aims of the Wolves and Humans Foundation (a registered charity in England and Wales No. 1111289): “To provide and advance education about wolves (and other large carnivores) to the general public”.

Thus the talks were not promoted as being about reintroduction, but an evening of talks and discussion about wolves, under the heading The 21st Century Wolf, to reflect the new challenges for recovered wolf populations in Europe of adapting to living in human-dominated landscapes, and for humans to learn how to live with returning wolves.

In the introduction to each evening, it was clearly stated that Wolves and Humans does not campaign for reintroduction, but that as there are a number of organisations and individuals, both within and outside Scotland, who do, the charity is committed to sharing over 15 years of experience working with biologists and rural communities in countries where wolves still exist, to present balanced and factual information to enable the public to make their own informed decision about the subject. It was anticipated that the audiences would ask questions related to reintroduction, given regular media coverage of the subject.

The venues (Cannich Hall and Kinloch Rannoch Village Hall) were chosen as they are located in areas that have previously been identified by various commentators as potential sites for reintroduction of wolves – Glen Affric and Rannoch Moor. The Highland Wildlife Park was approached to host a joint event as it is close to the Cairngorms National Park, another area identified as potentially suitable for wolf reintroduction, visitors to the park (and park staff) could be assumed to have an interest in wolves and reintroduction, and it represented a relatively ‘friendly’ audience to get us started.

The talks were free to attend (except HWP, where standard park admission applied, but there was no extra charge to attend the talks), to encourage a wide range of people, not just those already interested in wolves or in favour of reintroduction, to come. The small village venues were also chosen to encourage local people and not just those prepared to travel to hear talks about wolves.

Speakers

The speakers were:

Dr Sabina Nowak and Dr Robert Mysłajek from Association for Nature WOLF in Poland, a Polish non- profit organisation dedicated to conservation of mammals, particularly large carnivores, and their habitats. Both have over 20 years’ experience in research and conservation of large carnivores, particularly wolves, including conflict resolution and working with local communities. They both sit on government advisory committees in Poland. Sabina and Robert presented information about wolf recovery, ecology and management in Poland, using that country as an example of co-existing with wolves in landscapes altered by human activity in a relatively densely populated European country. Robin Rigg, MSc (HWP and Cannich Hall only) from the Slovak Wildlife Society, a not for profit organisation working to ensure the survival of large carnivores and their habitats in Slovakia. Robin is a member of the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe and regularly advises the Slovak State Nature Conservancy on bear and wolf related issues. He is also experienced in conflict resolution and has hosted stakeholder meetings and workshops to develop management plans for large carnivores in Slovakia. Robin talked about ecology and management of wolves in Slovakia, with reference to his personal journey from Dumfries, where he worked as a young man, to Slovakia, where he obtained his Master’s degree with a thesis on mitigating human/large carnivore conflicts using livestock guarding dogs, presenting information about conflict resolution and research on wolves in Slovakia, as well as comparisons with Scotland (similar population, smaller size, better forest cover etc.).

Troy Bennett (Kinloch Rannoch only), who presented his experiences working as a shepherd when wolves returned to France in the early 1990s. His flock suffered an attack in which over 250 sheep were driven over a cliff, however, an encounter with a wolf shortly afterwards led him to try and learn more about the species, and he has seen subsequently seen benefits to the remote valley where he worked in the form of increased tourism and employment.

The talks were introduced by Richard Morley, director of the Wolves and Humans Foundation (see transcript of this brief talk below), and trustee Robert Howie Smith presented some short interludes; about his perspective on wolf conservation as an artist and a reading of ‘Thinking like a Mountain’ by Aldo Leopold.

Highland Wildlife Park: Monday 21st September

Around 30-35 people, mainly visitors, with some staff, attended the Highland Wildlife Park talks. Questions asked included “Do you think wolves could be reintroduced to Scotland”, answered by Robin Rigg as ‘at the present time ecologically yes, socially no”, how livestock guarding dogs protect sheep, and whether wolves would attack humans.

Cannich Hall: Tuesday 22nd September

Between 80-90 people attended this talk, with some representatives from the farming and stalking communities, and volunteers from Trees for Life, according to conversations with speakers and helpers after the event. There were some very good questions and discussion, including again the issues of human safety and protecting livestock from attacks. The question of land ownership and use in Scotland and how this compares to Poland and Slovakia was also raised. One member of the audience asked why we did not have a speaker from Scandinavia, as people in Scotland feel a closer affinity with those countries and he understood they did not have such positive experiences with wolves as those presented by the speakers present. In post-event conversations there was also praise that the tone and approach of the presentations was very good. (It is worth noting that the Cannich Hall website inaccurately stated that Wolves and Humans “aims to reintroduce wolves to wild areas of the UK” in its promotion of the event, which may have influenced the attendance).

Kinloch Rannoch Village Hall: Thursday 24th September

Around 50 people attended this talk, again including people from the farming community, and there were again perceptive questions and some good discussion. Questions included “Why is there so much more controversy and opposition to wolves in France than in Poland” – answer from Robert Mysłajek: “Because there has been no break in co-existence with wolves in Poland, whereas French farmers had a period with no wolf presence and livestock farming practices changed”; “Would wolves adversely affect wildcats?”, answered by Robert that there is no evidence of this in Poland where the two species are present in parts of the same range; “How many wolves could Scotland hold?”, again answered tactfully by Robert that it would be rude for him to say and that it was a question for Scottish scientists, before some discussion about data on territory sizes; ”What is the community benefit of wolves we keep hearing about?”, answered by Troy Bennett with reference to increased tourism in his valley meaning farmers can diversify into providing accommodation to increase income, and people such as Troy can supplement income by acting as guides in the mountains. Other questions included “How does red deer behaviour in Poland differ from Scotland?”, “Has there ever been a wolf attack on humans in France/Poland?” and “Do you think the Scottish flag deter wolves in the same way the red flags in fladry do?”

Feedback

Feedback from the events was generally positive, including thanks and comments from audience members before they left, anecdotal observations by helpers that some people arrived looking sceptical but made positive comments to them at the end, and comments on Facebook (see https://www.facebook.com/events/442288269307957/)

Photos from the events can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/112293598804311/photos/pcb.1042796805753981/104279667908732 7/?type=3&theater , and here: https://www.facebook.com/112293598804311/photos/ms.c.eJxFzskRxEAIA8CMXIib~;BNbG3aYbyN AIDWtSspEEPTBQBTDSLQWchJ~_IGGa4kkHSntF9EInPC70DborNivSYO9kjjotSIPlgg34HwJfMefwTXgfZT 4AbsAmIAO28BXzyn2LKYYtNl8q~;AfY9z1E.bps.a.1045499745483687.1073741826.112293598804311 /1045499808817014/?type=3&theater.

Future events

As feedback was positive and we have been asked if there will be more, we would like to return to Scotland to hold similar events in community venues in other locations, as well as perhaps returning to the same venues in the future with different speakers reflecting experiences from different countries. However, the tour was funded entirely by the Wolves and Humans Foundation and existing funds are insufficient to fund additional talks, so it will be necessary to seek additional funding for specific events in the future.

In line with suggestions and comments received, we would like to record future events so those that cannot attend can listen or view online, or even live-stream. We would also like to have a volunteer more formally recording questions and responses so these can be used to contribute to future research or public consultation. Numbers of people attending could also be more accurately recorded. We would possibly also try to record feedback more formally with a feedback form or online survey.

Contact:

Richard Morley

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 01392 811130

Mob: 07764 182827 Transcription of introduction to the talks by Richard Morley

Good evening, thank you for coming this evening, and welcome to the world of the 21st Century Wolf!

My name is Richard Morley and I’m the director of the Wolves and Humans Foundation

As the title says, this is an evening about wolves, and how they have adapted to life in the crowded world of the 21st century

And also, how people are adapting to live with the wolf as it returns to places where it hasn’t been seen for decades, and in some case centuries.

We have two talks tonight from speakers who are very much at the front line of the current resurgence of wolves in Europe.

We also have some interludes from the trustees of the Wolves and Humans Foundation, and I hope later on, some interesting discussion.

Before I introduce the first speaker(s) I’d like to tell you a bit about the Wolves and Humans Foundation and the background behind this series of talks in the Scottish Highlands :

The Wolves and Humans Foundation is a UK based charity dedicated to the conservation of Europe’s large carnivores

The brown bear - the largest land carnivore on the continent

The lynx – the elusive tiger of the northern forest

And, the wolf, Canis lupus, the largest member of the dog family, and the animal we’ll be focussing on tonight…

The Foundation has been around since the mid-1980s

It began as the Wolf Society of Great Britain, which was founded in 1985 and was one of the first wolf organisations in Europe, at a time when wolves were still widely persecuted in many parts of the continent, where they still managed to persist in remote areas.

We became the Wolves and Humans Foundation, and registered as a Charity, in 2005, so we are celebrating our tenth anniversary this year.

The change from the Wolf Society of Great Britain to the Wolves and Humans Foundation came about following a major international conference of wolf biologists held in Banff in Canada in 2003

The striking theme that emerged from the presentations given there, was how successfully wolves had recovered from the brink of extinction, both in America and in Europe, due to the hard work of biologists and conservationists.

And this was a cause for celebration of a job well done

But there was also some caution - the new conservation challenge for the 21st century is for us to learn to live with the wolf again.

Conservation of wolves is now more about people than the animals themselves

Especially those people who live and work in places were wolves have returned or are increasing in numbers.

It is about helping people to adjust to the return of the wolf and still protect their livelihoods

In many cases people don’t hate wolves, but they bear resentment that wolves have been imposed on them by authorities and governments they feel are disconnected from their way of life

Rural communities often feel wolves are a threat to their ability to earn a living. So conservation becomes about addressing perceptions of the wolf and what it represents to people.

In some cases this help means reviving more traditional ways of co-existing with wolves, in others it means being innovative and developing new ways of coexisting.

We are a charity, and one of the definitions of a charitable purpose is that it is in the public interest, and we believe that it is in the public interest to have wolves in our landscapes, AND to help the people who are bear the real cost of co-existence with them.

These are the aims of the charity.

We do this by working with local biologists and people in rural communities in their home countries – mainly in central and eastern Europe - where wolves, bears and lynx still exist, to find solutions to conflicts between these species and human interests.

Probably the conflict that is perceived as the most harmful is this:

Wolves sometimes kill sheep and other domestic livestock

Which leads people to do this in retaliation:

And we believe this situation is not good for wolves, people, or sheep.

I should say at this point, that attacks by wolves on livestock are nowhere near as common as you might imagine, and are often economically insignificant on a national level compared with losses due to other natural causes such as disease or accidents, but to the individual farmer, losing animals to wolves can be both financially stressful and emotionally traumatic, and the media invariably sensationalises attacks in national newspapers and on TV. Again, it is human perceptions of interactions with wolves that are significant.

So some of the methods we use to prevent attacks on livestock and domestic animals, and you’ll hear more about these later, are:

Livestock guarding dogs to protect sheep from predator attacks,

Predator-proof electric fencing

Fladry – a new adaptation of a traditional method of hunting wolves from eastern Europe. Wolves will not easily cross this line of coloured flags

And some more simple and imaginative solutions, like these balloons around a cattle corral in Russia – this is inexpensive, but needs to be constantly changed to prevent wolves getting used to the novel objects and overcoming their natural caution.

We also support research – projects carrying out monitoring of wolf numbers and populations – one of the biggest obstacles to reaching agreement about how wolves should be managed, or conserved, is lack of accurate information about how many there are actually are - many ‘official’ figures are compiled by counts carried out by hunting associations based on their hunting areas and as wolves spend a lot of time travelling and have large territories, there is probably a lot of double counting of the same animals in different hunting areas.

Accurate estimates of wolf numbers based on good scientific methods form a sound basis for conservation and management decisions

Research into wolf diet, can also help reduce conflicts by showing, for example, that domestic animals form a relatively low proportion of prey, and genetic analysis of samples taken from ‘scat’ can identify where new populations of wolves are coming from and how Europe’s wolf populations link up across the continent.

Whilst it might seem glamorous, a large part of a wolf researchers life consists of picking up what wolves leave behind...

Our support for this work is funded entirely by donations

And our Adopt a Wild Wolf Pack Scheme, which has been running since 1996, with two wolf packs being studied by our colleagues from Association for Nature WOLF in Poland available for adoption.

We also created the White Dog Fund, where people, whether they live in cities or in the country, can demonstrate that they are prepared to share the burden of those who live alongside these species by making a donation to fund direct practical assistance for farmers in rural areas to protect their livestock and crops.

We are encouraging people to share the responsibility for predators such as wolves.

The fund is named after the characteristic colour of many traditional livestock guarding dog breeds like this Slovensky Cuvac in Slovakia.

Now, something that is probably on many of your minds: We do not campaign for reintroduction of wolves to Scotland or anywhere in the UK, so we’re not here tonight to try and persuade you that they should be brought back.

However, the idea of reintroduction seems to be increasingly in the papers, on the internet, and on TV, and is advocated by various organisations and individuals both in Scotland and England

So, we aim to present factual and balanced information about the wolf and share over fifteen years' experience of working with people who live and work in rural areas of Europe where wolves, and other large carnivores still exist to enable people to make their own informed decisions about the subject.

To do this, we have regularly attended events here in Scotland and have also organised study tours to Slovakia, for representatives from various interest groups from Scotland to see typical wolf habitat and where wolves exist in close proximity to people.

Our aim with this series of talks in the Highlands, apart from being a good excuse to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Wolves and Humans with friends and colleagues in a beautiful part of Scotland, is to hopefully present a balanced view of wolves and how rural communities in Europe are adapting to their remarkable recovery, helped by committed biologists and NGOs, such as our speakers tonight,

And we hope it will be of interest to local people in the Highlands such as yourselves, and will stimulate discussion and exploration of potential future scenarios for the wolf in Scotland.

(Introduction to first speaker)