Roaming on the right side.

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Howburn Digger H
Howburn Digger Jun 16, 2010 19:50:49
Replying to Branwen

Branwen wrote:
I'm torn with that one - I'd love to see bears in Scotland again, even if they are the regular brown bears we had, and not the anciently famous and fierce caledonian bears, which could have been a hybrid, they say. Then again, a huge area would be out of bounds between them and the wolves.
The romans quite rightly recognised the gory entertainment possibilities of the ultra violent caledonian bears and transported some back for the opening of the Coliseum back in the year 80.
I would be slightly reticent about wild bears roaming our hills willy nilly again! They weigh half a ton and while they do eat berries and stuff they arent strictly vegetarian. America already has the bear problem. We dont any more. And we dont have tigers any more either. Or lions...
I remember seeing bears at Cameron House Bear Park at Loch Lomond in the 1970's. They were free to roam in the grounds of a massive fenced enclosure which you could drive around. They used to bat around barrels and tractor tyres like they were feathers. They had Siberian Tigers and Wolves there too. Some animal rights activists released the wolves and this of course led to the slaughter of every sheep and lamb which the pack encountered. Most of the wolves had to be shot too. They shut the park in the mid 80's and built a marina, golf course and an exclusive resort in its place.
Our last wild bear was Hercules who went for a wander round Benbecula and the Uists for three weeks in 1980. He was great, real tame and I got to meet him at a Highland Show when I was wee!

B Branwen
Branwen Jun 17, 2010 14:11:59
Replying to Howburn Digger

Did humans and tigers and lions ever share the same space in what became Britain?

I do like the idea of one huge reservtion for bears and wolves. Would it be worth losing the right to roam over such a large area, and the risk of escapee animals?

What is the plan, to have it like a safari, ask people to sign a disclaimer, or just bar people from the area altogether and leave it for the animals?

I realised they had a problem when I was in America and Canada when I saw people with bear fur hats, and they explained about culling. People over there accept it as a danger of wilderness walking and try to be careful I guess. I suppose here it would be a worse problem as the area of wilderness we have are probably still frequented a lot more by walkers ect than the vast areas like that over there, so chances of problems would be bad.

How close did they let you get to the bear when you were wee? I dont like the idea of wolves in our wild places, but must admit, seeing a wild bear (from a safe distance) would be cool.