Opinion: What next for rewilding – ‘Alligators for Ely’?
Mike Neaverson © Tim Scrivener Rewilding may be a Marmite subject, but one thing noticeable in the debate is that the proponents of species introduction are often not involved in the communities that will be affected.
Take, for example, previous members of our government campaigning to introduce wolves to Scotland.
It seems to me that there has been little consultation with those north of the border whose children could theoretically be eaten.
A few years ago, Matt Cross – a journalist from a remote bit of Scotland, who I have never met, but with whom I appear to share a sense of humour – decided to poke a bit of fun at this pattern by starting the “Hyenas for Hampshire” project on Twitter.
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This annoyed the right people, who – let’s face it – are far more likely to live in High Wycombe than the actual Highlands.
From memory, it was theorised that the hyenas would be most fecund, feasting on the New Forest’s ponies, so another charity would have to spawn the “Puff adders for Portsmouth” project to control them.
And then when the puff adders got out of hand, there’d be another hapless NGO keen to introduce “Honey Badgers to Basingstoke”.
They would control the puff adders that were controlling the hyenas that, by this stage, might have been prowling around PC World in Southampton.
Over the years, there have also been calls to rewild my home district of the Fens. For reasons that I don’t understand, these have mostly been targeting the bits of the district where I don’t actually live.
Naturally, then, I am most supportive.
I’m particularly worried that we need to take account of climate change when introducing child-eating apex predator species.
I’ve listened to Greta and, in a few years, we’ll struggle to tell the difference between the “Forty Foot Drain” and the Florida Everglades.
Which is why, after a lot of thought, I would like you to support my new venture: “Alligators for Ely”.
The local farmers will be fuming. “But these are friendly alligators,” I will say. “Never mind about irrigating your crops, the tourists will love them.”