To think the reintroduction of the wild Wolf to Belgium is insanity?

[HoppsAndSpice]

Wild Wolves have been reintroduced into Belgium over the last couple of weeks. This has led to the great dismay of the local farming community and outrage from the country as a whole. I am personally thinking about the many farmers who will lose cattle and sheep to the wolves and the impact it will have on their livelihood. Also the impact it will have on the wider ecosystem as a whole which could see various creatures such as rabbits, hares and other small mammals hunted in large quantities.

Wolves have a very inefficient digestive system as do most carnivores which means they need large quantities of meat to survive.

Its a very interesting one but I think this needs resolving urgently as a matter of urgency.

And if someone else's wolf attacks you or eats your gran, it's your own fault for wearing a red cape.

How do you have a "pet" wolf ?

Wolves in the wild range over hundreds of kilometers. If it is not doing this then it isn't a wolf, it's some sort of semi domesticated animal somewhere between a wolf and a dog.

The problem with wolves is that they need a massive amount of space to live in. Which doesn't make them great in areas where there are lots of humans. They also kill livestock and probably would kill pets if they could get hold of them.

No matter how much people like the idea, there are some animals we can not really live in harmony with. Animals like wolves, polar bears, great white sharks are best left to wilderness areas away from people where they can behave naturally and be free from danger from humans and vice versa.

Conspiratorial wolves. That’s the next big thing. No one will be talking about covid, energy costs or interest rates once the wolves have taken over and built their secret Bond villain style bunkers in the Amazon.

I'm almost sure that Putin is in cahoots with the wolves and maybe has wolf blood in him. He has that wolfish look.

It’s the bit where there draining of whole lakes and replacing the water with your souped up hose pipe with a brita filter gaffer taped to the end.

Or the bit where they’re trapping crayfish without written permission from the environment agency. That illegal.

The Government's definition of an invasive species is one that is non-native and upsets the ecological or wildlife balance in an area.

So grey squirrels are invasive as they were introduced into the UK from the US (they didn't swim here) and have driven the red squirrels out of many habitats here. Wolves are not defined as invasive since they were native to the UK and Europe but were killed off by us humans. The wolves in Belgium have just spread back there across Europe - they are present in many neighbouring countries.

Just to be clear invasive does not mean that they invade countries. Like organise raids and swim across seas. Not many land mammals can swim 20 miles across the sea (though it was reported a tiger once swam from China to Taiwan).

Can't say I'm alarmed in any way.

Oh my this has made my morning 😂

Maybe if we introduce wolves they will give those pesky wild boar's a run for their money OP.

Could they just teach the Rabbits self defence? I think they tried that in Asia. 🎶Every bunny was kung-fu fighting!🎶

Not many land mammals can swim 20 miles across the sea

Polar bears can swim long distances. if Belgium reintroduces those the south coast's in trouble.

https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/polar-bears

(though it was reported a tiger once swam from China to Taiwan)

I don't blame it for one minute. Better than the other way around.

@mumsnet This thread definitely deserves to go into mumsnet classics for two reasons.

One, it has triggered a debate and there is some interesting bits from various posters on conservation that are interesting and enlightening. This includes how different perspectives inform that discussion (eg farmers and conservationists). Both voices need to be heard.

Two, more importantly, the brilliant wit and humour of many MN posters has made many of us laugh. A rare occurrence during these dark geopolitical days.

Humans are different as they are a species which is aware of what it is doing and are trying to reduce the impact of their invasive nature.
😂😂😂

Like fuck we are.

When we have cut down the last tree, & drunk the last river, we will learn that we cannot eat money.

I can’t believe all this debating about whether wolves will swim or catch a boat. If snakes can get on a plane why can’t a cunning wolf?

Also how many of them are already over here pretending to be locked up in zoos? Surely this group can just go around and help them escape?

Who knows what else they will release? You could be walking down the high street and bump into a bear getting it’s shopping in Tesco, or a tiger queuing in the butchers? It will be chaos!

I think we need to get a petition going to make parliament address the issue and condemn this group as a terror threat

This OP must be having a laugh. I've just read the OP posts with a total WTAF!!! Replacing water in lakes with filtered water that kills off crayfish but doesn't upset the fish? Belgium only being 20km away from UK?! Do you seriously think that a wolf would swim that?! Or that wolves would hunt rabbits to extinction (rabbits?! FML). I don't know what you're taking but it sure needs reviewing.

Wolves were native to the UK and were hunted to extinction here. Ditto bears (but they died out a lot earlier than wolves). The wolves on the European mainland are not conspiring to over run the UK by crossing the Channel. What will you suggest next OP, that a family of bears in the US happen to watch a programme about the UK, get inspired and float across the Atlantic on a bloody iceberg to get here?! Maybe a pride of lions might get miffed with the constant hot weather on the African continent and decide to hot foot it across the Suez and make their way up via Israel, Syria, Turkey, cross Europe and hitch a lift with an unsuspecting trucker to UK?!

Well DUH - you don't need to drain the whole lake. A few litres of the filtered stuff is enough because y'know - homeopathy.
On a related note, as St Patrick's day was this week, it may interest you to know that when he drove the snakes out of Ireland he didn't need to use holy water - he just had to sprinkle some of the Evian he'd brought from France. And - pouf - snakes-B-gone.

There was talk of reintroducing them in scotland . I think it's a great idea, sort of righting some of the things humans have done wrong,

Maybe a pride of lions might get miffed with the constant hot weather on the African continent and decide to hot foot it across the Suez and make their way up via Israel, Syria, Turkey, cross Europe and hitch a lift with an unsuspecting trucker to UK?!

He'd have to be pretty unsuspecting not to notice a pride of lions in the truck. They make one hell of a noise roaring. Although he might think it was the engine.

So op, you think Belgium is landlocked? It’s not
wolves are not native to the uk? They are, or they were before being persecuted.
that wolves are violent, nasty and sneaky? They are not.
and that you work with some wildlife conservation? You don’t!

are your teachers on strike?

I’ve reported this as a troll thread.

Or that wolves would hunt rabbits to extinction (rabbits?! FML)

Appropriate, considering the mating habits of rabbits. Rabbits would be an hors d'oeuvre for a full grown wolf. Those things in packs can take down fully grown male bison.

Well, he was when the wolf was still a cub. Not sure what happened after that. It was all a bit strange.

Well, this has made my morning 😂

Also, I was indifferent about wolves but now I'm all for them. I'd love to hear the crazy ways in which you'd plan to eradicate them. Filter their water sources (but don't damage any other elements of the ecosystem), drug their food (but don't damage any other parts of the ecosystem), give them marching orders and send them swimming back to Calais.

😂😂 Gold.

You could call the wolves Keith or Jim and feed them bananas to keep them in Belgium. Would stop them eating grandmas.

Sure they'd prefer waffles and beer now they have gone native

Morning all. We've had a lot of reports about this thread and we can now confirm that the OP is indeed a wolf in sheep's clothing (ie a relentless previously banned poster who can't stay away from Mumsnet).

We've now shown them the door yet again. Ordinarily, we delete troll threads but we can see that a lot of folk are having a lot of fun with this thread and some of the replies have made us howl wolf stylee too. So, for that reason, we're going to close the thread to new replies but leave it standing for posterity.

Meanwhile, if you need us, we'll be building a barricade of bisons just in case. Stay alert everyone and lock up your grandmas.

They're EU wolves. No worries, they will have to wait ages to get through passport control, surely?