Wolves could eat people’s dogs and cats, and become hated in Britain if they are reintroduced, outdoor survival expert Ray Mears has warned.
The television presenter has spoken out against the ‘rewilding’ campaign to bring back top predators including lynx, wolves and even bears.
He warned wolves, if they prey on pets, could be seen as ‘hounds of hell’ and spread across large areas.
Britain is not ready for more apex predators, Mears told an audience at Cheltenham Science Festival, because we cannot cope with those we already have.
He said: ‘I don’t think we should be discussing reintroducing lynx, or wolf at this stage, because we still have two apex predators that we can’t live with – the hen harrier and the golden eagle. These are still being poisoned.’
Wolves could eat people’s dogs and cats, and become hated in Britain if they are reintroduced, outdoor survival expert Ray Mears has warned
Until we can manage our existing predators, the survivalist added, ‘I don’t think we have the right to play God’.
Speaking after the talk, he gave the example of Idaho, where the reintroduction of wolves has led to ‘monumental’ hatred of the animals among many.
In Canada, people are advised not to grow fruit trees in their gardens because bears will come for the fruit, creating bear and human conflict.
The 59-year-old said: ‘These animals only have to consume somebody’s dog and they then become the hound of hell – and what happens is you end up with more hatred for the animal than before you started.’
There is growing momentum for the idea of bringing back species which historically roamed Britain.
Lynx, for example, died out in Britain more than 1,000 years ago, but some conservation groups argue the species could help restore natural ecosystems.
In the highlands of Scotland, where wolves were eradicated in 1769, it has been argued their reintroduction could help control red deer, which damage native woodlands.
But Mears said: ‘The deer will very quickly learn and become very intelligent, they benefit from predation.
‘But the sheep don’t, so the wolf will obviously go for the sheep.’
He said you ‘can’t contain’ intelligent and capable predators released in a specific area, which can easily spread.
In the highlands of Scotland, where wolves were eradicated in 1769, it has been argued their reintroduction could help control red deer, which damage native woodlands
In Britain, which doesn’t have ‘vast tracts of wilderness’ for them, but is a broken landscape filled with towns, cities and farmland, this could cause problems.
However the presenter did raise the idea of people being financially compensated for the harm done to livestock and grouse by reintroduced wildlife.
The largest predators considered for rewilding are brown bears, of which there are estimated to have been more than 13,000 in Britain 7,000 years ago, feeding on a range of large mammals including deer and bison.
Bringing them back is ‘on the minds of some’, according to Mears, who asked, in response to supporters of the idea: ‘How many of us are there on a very small island?
‘It’s easy for you (supporters) to say, but (not) if it’s your livestock that’s then eaten, if it’s your dog that’s taken.’
On the danger of ‘romanticising’ reintroductions, the bushcraft expert said: ‘There’s a part of me that loves the idea of seeing these animals in the wild but I just don’t think, as a realist, in Britain, where we have 13 per cent woodland, that we are ready for the consequences.
‘If you look at what happened, when they introduced wolves in Sweden, it almost changed the government, when people started losing their dogs to wolves.’
He concluded that Britain is ‘not ready’ for more apex predators, and this includes scientific efforts to bring back woolly mammoths using preserved DNA.
Mears told the science festival this was a ‘dangerous’ idea, adding: ‘Animals are a product not just of their genes but of their society, of their ecosystem, the circumstances that create them, their behaviour.
‘I don’t think from genes alone we can create that.’
He added: ‘I fear that we play God, and I personally wouldn’t do it.’
