Irish wolf

The "Irish wolf" was an integral part of the Irish countryside and Irish culture and commonly seen around the island. The earliest radio carbon date on wolf bones found in Ireland is 34,000 BC, these bones being located at Castlepook Cave, County Cork. The last wolf in Ireland was hunted down and killed near Mt. Leinster in 1786 by John Watson of Ballydarton near Ceatharlach.

Extermination

The last Irish wolf was exterminated from Ireland in 1786 although most Irish counties have their story that they had the last Irish wolf.

Bounties

The extermination process, largely started many years before by Oliver Cromwell and his government, effectively put into motion the extinction of this Irish breed. Huge "bounties", such as £6 per female wolf, £5 per male, £2 per juvenile and 10 Shillings per cub, had been placed upon the species, with hunters from Britain seizing the opportunity to hunt the species as the European Wolf had effectively died out in much of Britain.

Possible reintroduction

There have been vocal calls on the Internet as well as talk for a reintroduction of the wolf into Ireland, similar to that of the successful reintroduction of the Golden Eagle in County Donegal recently. Farmers would be opposed, as they would deem it a threat to their livestock, although introduction to secluded areas such as the Donegal Highlands and other areas are a possibility. [http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/ Reintroduction measures] are already in place in Scotland for the reintroduction of the Wolf, from the Wolf Trust organisation.

Further references

*ALLEN, F.A. (1909) The wolf in Scotland and Ireland, Transactions of the Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club, (5), 68-74.
*ARCHIBALD, C. and BELL, J. (1854) Wolves in Ireland, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 1(2), 281.
*BARNARD, T.C. (1975) Cromwellian Ireland English Government and Reform in Ireland 1649-1660. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*BROGHILL, LORD (1874) Wolves, Two letters from Lord Broghill to the Earl of Dorset. Historic Manuscripts Commission Report (De LaWarr Manuscripts), 4, 280.
*CABOT, D. (1999) Ireland : A Natural History. London: Harper Collins Publishers.
*CROAFFTS, C. (1909) Wolves, Two letters from Christopher Croaffts to Sir John Perceval. Historic Manuscripts Commission Report (Egmont Manuscripts), 2, 5.
*DIXON, D. (2000) New Foundations Ireland 1660-1800, 2nd Edition. Dublin: Irish Academic Press.
*DUNLOP, R. (1913) Ireland under the Commonwealth. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
*FAIRLEY, J. (1984) An Irish Beast Book: A Natural History of Ireland’s Furred Wildlife. Belfast: The Blackstaff Press.
*FEDERAL DATABASE ON WILDLIFE (1998) Biological data and habitat requirements. Website: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/animals.
*FEEHAN, J. (1997) The heritage of the rocks, In: Foster, J.W. (ed.) Nature in Ireland: a scientific and cultural history. Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 3-22.
*FLANAGAN, L.N.W. (1979) An index to minor place-names from the 6" Ordnance Survey: Co. Derry, Bulletin of the Ulster Place-Name Society, 2(2), 42.
*FOSTER, J.W. (ed.) (1997a) Nature in Ireland: a scientific and cultural history. Dublin: The Lilliput Press Ltd.
*FOSTER, J.W. (1997b) Nature and nation in the nineteenth century, In: Foster, J.W. (ed.) Nature in Ireland: a scientific and cultural history. Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 409-439.
*HARTING, J.E. (1880) British Animals extinct within historic times with some account of British wild white cattle. London: Trubner and Co.
*O’FLAHERTY, R. (1846) A chorographical description of West or H-Iar Connaught. Dublin: Irish Archaeology Society.
*MacLYSAGHT, E. (1979) Irish life in the seventeenth century. Dublin: Irish Academic Press Limited. Extermination of the Irish wolf 197 198 Hickey.
*McCRACKEN, E. (1971) The Irish woods since Tudor times: Distribution and exploitation. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies.
*MOFFAT, C.B. (1938) The mammals of Ireland, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 44B, 61-128.
*MORIARTY, C. (1997) The early naturalists, In: Foster, J.W. (ed.) Nature in Ireland: a scientific and cultural history. Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 71-90.
*O’SULLIVAN, S. (ed.) (1966) Folktales of Ireland. London: Routledge.
*PENDER, S. (ed.) (1939) A Census of Ireland c.1659 with supplementary material from the poll money ordinances (1660-1661). Dublin: Stationery Office.
*PICKERING, D. (1998) Dictionary of Superstitions. London: Brockhampton Press.
*PRENDERGAST, J.P. (1922) The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland. 3rd edition. Dublin: Mellifont Press.
*RAFTERY, B. (1994) Pagan Celtic Ireland: The enigma of the Irish Iron Age. London: Thames and Hudson.
*SCHARFF, R.F. (1922) The Wolf in Ireland, The Irish Naturalist, 31, 133-136.
*SCHARFF, R.F. (1924) The Wolf in Ireland, The Irish Naturalist, 33, 95.
*SCHARFF, R.F., SEYMOUR, H.J. and NEWTON, E.T. (1918) Exploration of Castlepook Cave, Co. Cork, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 34B, 33-72.
*SLEEMAN, P. (1997) Mammals and mammalogy, In: Foster, J.W. (ed.) Nature in Ireland: a scientific and cultural history. Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 241-261.
*STUART, A.J. and Van WIJNGAARDEN-BAKKER, L.H. (1985) Quaternary Vertebrates, In: Edwards K.J. and Warren W. (eds) The Quaternary History of Ireland. London: Academic Press, 221-249.
*WADDELL, J. (1998) The prehistoric archaeology of Ireland. Galway: Galway University Press.

External links

* [http://www.ucd.ie/gsi/pdf/33-2/lupus.pdf Irish Wolf extermination]
* [http://www.wolf.org/wolves/news/iwmag/2003/winter/irish.pdf The last Irish Wolf]