I don't think that local people any more oppose the reintroduction of top predators like wolves or bears. It's only the farmers/ranchers who do so. At least, all the articles re US environmental concerns all indicate that most local people are actually very much in favour of wolves - it's just that the blasted government is being recently persuaded by the farming lobby to remove the old legal restrictions against shooting wolves, as the wolves' numbers are increasing slightly(the number of wolves in many areas is still too low, but, like I said, when humans start "managing" wildlife, they tend to ignore such facts.
 
Certainly, in Europe apart from some very twisted gamekeepers and embittered local fishermen, almost everyone is in favour of top predators being re introduced, (except our unrepresntative, rural-hating government, which is about to be forced out soon).There've been  huge outcries against the deliberate poisoning of wild predators like hawks and eagles as well as outcries against one programme designed to wipe out badger populations as there are spurious claims by the government that they give TB to cattle(actually intensively-farmed cattle get TB because of low resistance to germs due to appalling farming practices) - the trouble is that laws are so meagre in their sentencing that people who shoot such animals mostly get off with a fine of a few thousand pounds. The most shocking incident occurred a while back when the German government got into big trouble with neighbouring countries when it decided to shoot a brown bear which had wandered across the border and occasionally visited the town(without harming anyone). It never occurred to the German government that  a) the bear was harmless and b) that this was one of only a tiny handful of brown bears still in existence in Europe and that c)a wild animal that attacks humans should only be shot at with tranquillisers, if at all. I'm in agreement with Aspinall on this one:- he maintained that there are billions of humans on the planet and only a tiny handful of bears, gorillas or similiar species -so that the life of one gorilla or bear or whatever is worth more than the lives of several millions of humans, the implication being that one should not be allowed to  casually slaughter a wild animal merely because it threatens the life of one single human being. 
Anyway, now that the (forced) introduction of wild boars into the countryside has become a wild success all over  southern England along with thereintroduction of beavers and great bustards, it looks as though it's going to become much easier to reintroduce wolves(especially in areas like Scotland). There have also been discussions re reintroducing links, but some claim that some wild cats such as lynx have already been illegally reintroduced into the UK, given various reports over the years(eg:- "The Beast of Bodmin Moor". The one problem with the UK is that it is far more overcrowded than other European countries - past efforts to repopulate the Alpine countries with brown bears from the Slovenian mountain-range have been more successful(with that one exception of the German government stupidly slaughtering that one poor brown bear). Another consideration, is that due to the horror of globalisation, smaller creatures such as grey squirrels etc. are anyway disrupting local wildlife due to beingbrought in via containers etc. from abroad - so, larger , predators are going to be increasingly needed to deal with such threats.
 
 
(As far as frightening the animals, wolves are well-known to be very timid as regards humans, so that's not an issue).
 
Geoff



"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.” 


 Arthur Schopenhauer quote http://www.rawpaleo.com/ http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawpaleodiet/ > Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 11:57:30 -0400> From: [log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Letter From New Scientist Magazine> To: [log in to unmask]> > > -----Original Message-----> > From: Paleolithic Eating Support List> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jim Swayze> > Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 8:38 AM> > To: [log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: Letter From New Scientist Magazine> > Good question. I'll bet it upset the animal rights activists. It's also a> dilemma for us Paleo food advocates. Wild animal meat and organs is probably> the healthiest food on the planet for human beings, but the planet is not> large enough to house all the bison, caribou, deer, grass-fed cattle, wild> salmon, etc. we would need to feed everyone (we would need about 70> earth-like planets to do that). Outside of population control, the only> suggestion I recall seeing so far is Ray Audette's suggestion to find a way> to farm termites, which could provide healthy-fat-bearing "meat" to a larger> number of people if someone could figure out a way to do it. As with any> human manipulation of nature, I'm sure there would be downsides, of course.> We have some very smart people here. Maybe we can come up with some more> ideas. Forgive me if I've missed or forgotten any.> > Geoffrey Purcell wrote <<As regards the shooting of bison and wolves in the> US or the shooting of badgers in the UK, all these methods re "managing> wildlife" are done for the benefit of humans not of the local ecosystem,> really. Things work far better when one lets Nature take its course. For> example, there has been some encouraging common sense in the UK re the> notion of reintroducing wolves and bear back into the UK, among many others> previously wiped out by humans "managing" the wild.>>> > Yes, but of course, one reason why they are "managing the wildlife" is that> there are not enough natural predators to control the bison--probably> because the local people oppose the reintroduction of more predators like> wolves. So, until they can convince people to support predator> reintroduction (how many people with children want wolves venturing every> now and then into their backyards?) the only options are hunting,> "managing," letting the bison starve, or letting the bison trample down> villages and force out the humans. :-) I wonder why there is not enough> hunting of bison that they have to "manage" the herds? That's a lot of> expensive meat I would think hunters would covet. > > One of the problems with predator reintroduction in the U.S. is that there> have been problems with people feeding the predators and leaving out food> trash in a way that is accessible to the predators (such as mountain lions,> coyotes and coydogs), so that the predators associate human communities and> even humans with food and start stalking and preying on cats, small dogs,> infants and even adult humans (in the case of a few mountain lions). Fear of> humans is a learned behavior among animals (the animals of the Galapagos> Islands famously lack that fear), and some of the predators in the U.S. are> losing that fear. > > How well have the predator reintroduction programs gone in the UK? Since> pure-predator animals like wolves and mountain lions typically do not make> for good food, and people are no longer allowed to kill predators except> after they kill livestock or attack humans, how will we keep the predators> fearing the human populations? Will rangers be paid to startle them with> gunfire every so often or something? I wonder what methods hunter gatherers> use to scare off predators, beyond lighting fires?> 
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