Wolves

The big bad wolf eats the poor little pig or chases Little Red Riding Hood. The brave young hunter comes along and- BANG! - the wolf is dead. Unfortunately, in some parts of the world there are no more wolves living in the wild. And all because the wolf has traditionally been seen as an evil enemy. In fact this misunderstood animal has many virtues.

Wolves are superb hunter. They prefer hunting wild animals to domestic ones. They do not over-populate, but keep their numbers at the level they can feed. As for killing people, conservationists insist that this is simply not true. “Wolves avoid people. We have to teach the world that wolves only attack human beings in fairy tales.

”There are plans to bring wolves back to the wild areas of Scotland, but local people have doubts about the idea. “We want wolves back. They lived for thousand of years in Scotland – it is their land – but we fear for our animals”, one farmer says. The government has announced that it will pay for any farm animals killed by wolves. People in favour of bringing the wolf back say this: “Let our children have the chance to hear a wolf howl at the moon on a still, Scottish night, and let us be proud that we made it possible”.