Only One Ireland: Once upon a time in Ireland

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Once upon a time in Ireland - wolves

By 1786, wolves were exterminated in Ireland. Secreted in Irish woodlands, they had survived for 40 years longer than in Britain. But wolf bounties, introduced by Oliver Cromwell, prompted the arrival in Ireland of profit-seeking hunters from Britain and Europe. Coupled with deforestation and habitat destruction this hunting precipitated their demise. Once plentiful, Irish wolves receive a mention in Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' and are depicted in the 800AD Book of Kells. Irish wolfhounds and deerhounds are descendents of wolf-dog crosses.

Wolves are now a protected species in most European countries, even where they are absent in the wild, as is the case in Ireland. This means that if someone can sneak them into the country and establish a population, it would be illegal for anyone to kill them. Interested?

More about wolves in Ireland in the 1600s and how they went extinct:

A geographical perspective on the decline and extermination of the Irish wolf canis lupus (PDF) - an assessment by Kieran R. Hickey, Department of Geography, National University of Ireland, Galway.
History and extinction of the Irish wolf

The island of ireland

Once upon a time, and for 15000 years, ice a mile high blanketed Ireland. When the lingering Ice Age finally released and the Irish ice departed it left a landscape scoured. Across land bridges linking Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe plants and animals arrived to colonise the new lowlands, mountains and valleys. The world’s ice continued to melt, the sea levels to rise, and some 8000 years ago Ireland became the island we now know, accounting for just 0.01% of the world's total land area and the most westerly point of Europe.

Though at Alaskan latitudes, the country's climate is tempered, due partly to the neighbouring waters of the Gulf Stream and partly the prevailing southwesterlies that veering and backing make landfall on our sodden coast. These offerings from the Atlantic mean it is never too hot, never too cold. But without doubt it is wet. Rain lingers year round, never far away, though is most frequent in winter, the western counties and, inevitably, on the day of your parade.