JURASSIC Park-style fences could allow wolves to be safely re-introduced to the Scottish Highlands, experts have claimed.
Within a fenced reserve, wolf packs could be large enough to keep red deer numbers down without posing a threat to residents, farmers and workers, research suggests.
The scientists envisage grey wolf populations of around 80 wolves per 1000 square kilometres of land.
In the movie Jurassic Park, high electric fences were used to contain dangerous cloned dinosaurs – some of which escaped.
Lead researcher Dr Christopher Sandom, a biology lecturer at the University of Sussex with a special interest in rewilding, said: "Fences are a common but unpopular tool in biodiversity conservation and would ideally be avoided. But where there are conflicting interests, compromise is needed.
"Fences particularly constrain animal dispersal but as Britain is an island, this is less of a problem. A fenced reserve in Scotland could be a fantastic opportunity to return large predators to Britain, ecologically restore a large part of the Scottish Highlands, and promote tourism."
Without natural predators, increasing numbers of red deer are having a devastating ecological impact on parts of Scotland.
Red deer population densities are currently as high as 40 deer per square kilometre, enough to prevent tree-regeneration and cause more than a third of all native woodland to suffer damage.
Re-introducing the grey wolf could have a "significant trickle down effect" on species below them in the food chain, say the experts. It is also expected to bring a major boost to wildlife-based tourism and create jobs.
Study co-author Dr Joseph Bull, lecturer in conservation science at the University of Kent, said: "Wolves are glorious animals, and were originally natives of these shores. The idea of them returning will be thrilling for many people. However, the contribution that would make to global wolf conservation would be small – the larger ecological benefit of bringing them back would be the effect on other native species."
Another member of the team, Professor David Macdonald, director of the wildlife conservation unit (WildCRU) at Oxford university, said: "Scotland can lead Europe in thinking about how conservation, large fenced reserves and tourism can re-frame rural economies.
"The role of fencing in the conservation of big predators is globally a hot topic. So far our results are just simulations made from the safety of a desk, but they offer a highly original way of thinking about restoring nature and natural processes."
The findings appear in the journal Restoration Ecology.
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