Reintroduce These Species?

Wildwood Escot, Near Ottery St Mary, Devon
I was going through some photos of the last few weeks and thought I would share these from a visit to Wildwood Escot. I don’t normally like the whole Zoo set up as I believe animals should be in their natural setting. The exception to this rule of course is to save a species from complete extinction and to be working to reintroduce to the wild. There are sadly, a huge number of zoo’s across the world that hold species that are not viewable in the wild.

Anyway, back to Escot. This place has enclosures that include a number of species that are extinct in the UK or only present in a few locales. The Red Squirrel enclosure was actually rather nice. It was large and was entirely natural. You can walk through the enclosure and enjoy watching the squirrels do what they do. It’s just a shame that these beautiful creatures aren’t as widespread as they once were. Being driven away by the introduction of the Grey Squirrel by the Victorian’s (they’ve got a lot to answer for).  Whilst I don’t wont to persecute the poor Grey Squirrel, it is an alien species and I would much rather see the Red variety in our countryside.

Red Squirrel 

Red Squirrel 

We looked at the Eurasian Lynx enclosure but nothing was on show. Next was the Wild Boars and these were not so shy. There are small pockets of these in the wild but the populations have not been introduced in an organised way, leading to culls. What a shame.

Wild Boar 

Lastly we looked at the Eurasian Wolf enclosure. Again, it’s a shame to see these in an enclosure. I know there have been talks about reintroducing these to Scotland. I think the benefits to the ecosystem would be tremendous. They were reintroduced to Yellowstone Park in the US in the 80’s after being driven to extinction in the 20’s and whilst the park still hasn’t fully recovered the effects of the Wolves has been noted. The Elk population has declined, which has helped certain tree species. This in turn has helped bird species and Beaver populations. Beavers then help change the landscape and this helps further species. Can a similar programme help the UK landscape? I think it could. The guys at Wildwood Escot sure seem to be aiming for this. Time will tell I guess.

Eurasian Wolf