Call of the Re-Wild

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Europe wants to bring back top predators like lynx, bears and wolves. In the US national parks brought back certain wild animals and it helped to control the population of elk and other herbivores, and to control the biosphere.

The challenge, with Europe, is that it is tiny, compared to the wide open American spaces, and it’s densely populated. Wild animals can roam thousands of kilometres for food and more. Europe is thousands of kilometres wide, with plenty of people, especially in Northern Italy, Switzerland etc. To bring back wild animals is to bring them close to humans.

I feel differently about bears and lynx. I saw bears in Giant Sequoia national park and felt no fear. As long as you keep some distance from them you should be safe. The US ensures that people either hang their food, or use bear cans to prevent wild bears from reaching their food. I have read that bears find ways of getting to the food anyway.

With Lynx I am less afraid because with cats, foxes and other animals, when they see us, they run away. They prefer to run, than to challenge us. I have seen plenty of goat like creatures and felt happy to see them.

Dogs and wolves are a different matter. Both fill me with real fear. I have just one desire, to climb out of their reach, or find something to shield me. Once I climbed onto a fallen down tree to be some distance from a dog, another time I climbed onto a pillar for a property to be out of reach of dogs. In two cases I just froze. I am afraid of dogs. By association I am scared of dogs as I fear the same behaviour.

The reason for which I bring up this topic, is not to repeat myself, but rather to comment on the difference in attitude between dogs and wolves, on one side, and bears on the other.

A single bear threatens a father and son, before killing a jogger and there is talk of whether to be afraid, and whether to cull bears. On the other side we have packs of wolves killing livestock, and getting closer and closer to human habitations and no one is worried. Humans have feared wolves for centuries, for a reason.

I love the idea of wolves in spaces where you can walk for ten days without seeing humans. I hate the idea of wolves where humans are half a day’s walk away. Is the wildlife such a problem that wolves are justified?

As a child I wrote a report about wolves, but with time my fear of dogs, and by association wolves, has grown. I’d rather encounter a bear, than a wolf. I have encountered bears, and lived to speak of the experience.

At the Crux De Van I walked up a foggy hill and come to within metres of a type of goat. At La Dôle too. I have come across deer running across fields cycling, and surprised another deer while walking near some woods. I have seen two or three foxes and more. I love to see wildlife, I just feel a strong fear of dogs and related animals. I want to enjoy walks, without fearing dog, or wolf attacks.