Impact of Releasing Wolves into Yellowstone National

Impact of 14 wolves

1. In 1995 14 wolves were released in Yellowstone National Park. What happened as a result? Quite a lot actually!
2. Initially the deer population was dramatically reduced
3. The deer moved to parts of the park where they weren’t easily preyed upon
4. Habitats where the deer avoided replenished and regenerated
5. Forests of aspen and willow flourished, followed by berries, bugs and birds
6. Then the beaver, previously extinct in this area, returned
7. … building dams and providing habitats for otters and reptiles
8. The wolves killed coyotes, allowing rabbits and mice to also flourish, and hence more hawks, red foxes, badgers and even eagles
9.  Then the river changed – more vegetation meant less erosion and stabilised river banks
10. River channels narrowed, more pools formed
11. So 14 wolves changed the physical geography as well as the ecosystem of the park
12. Ireland has reintroduced predators in the 2000’s 100 white tailed eagles in Killarney and 60 golden eagles in Donegal
13. So what about reintroducing wolves?
14. We did have wolves in Ireland – 1,000 right up to the 1660s, followed by a rapid decline after bounties were put on their heads.
15. The last native Irish wolf was hunted down and killed in the late 1700s
16. In October 2019, there were calls for wolves to be reintroduced in Ireland, as part of a rewilding strategy in a wider national land use plan
17. However, it is extremely unlikely that the island of Ireland has enough wild places of large enough expanse to accommodate a population of wolves.