Going wild

I just read this very interesting article about reintroducing several species of wild animal which are now extinct in Britain, including beavers, wild boar and wolves.

Personally, I think a lot more thought needs to go into it before letting these creatures loose on modern Britain, although I'm in favour "in theory". I know there's a lot of controversy locally over the culling of wild goats on Snowdon (if left unchecked they over populate and cause massive damage to the eco-system). Although I certainly see the need to control numbers, the idea of an annual cull doesn't sit very comfortably with me at all. It might be a more natural way to control numbers. But then, that's easy for me to say as I'm not a farmer who might have his flock decimated by a pack of wolves.

In case you're interested, the largest native carnivore in modern Britain is the badger.

Unfortunately, when searching for a picture to illustrate this post I was directed to some rather ghastly pro-hunting sites. Blech. The picture is from here.

Sorry about the lack of blogging activity. There is (as always) a story involved, and I have pictures on the camera which I haven't moved over yet.