Wolves in Ireland: A Natural and Cultural History

by Kieran Hickey

From prehistory to the present day, the wolf has always loomed large in the human imagination. An iconic symbol of the untamed and the wild, the wolf, as Ireland's last great predator, has always provoked fear, excitement, and wonder. This book examines a vast array of sources relating to wolves in Ireland. The book considers archaeological remains, name evidence (place and person, both in Irish and in English), and folklore. It also looks at the historical records of wolves in Ireland, including wolf attacks on livestock (and more rarely people) and describes how the extermination of wolves took place, with the last wolf being killed, most likely, in 1786. The causes of extermination are discussed in detail, including legislation, the role of bounties and professional wolf hunters, and deforestation. The book closes by assessing whether the Irish wolf could have been a unique sub-species and considers the controversial possibility of re-introduction.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Ireland, Science, History, Ecology, Irish Literature

155 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Niallrn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remember what they took from you

[John De Búrca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I regularly found myself thinking about this book, after I put it down. Interesting read!

[Kelly Coons · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Wolves in Ireland: A Natural and Cultural History" explores a wide swath of wolf-related topics: the effect of the last Ice Age, references to wolves in place names, the domestication of the dog... As a result, each topic ends up feeling scattershot and shallow, which is not helped by the dry writing style.

That being said, for some readers, this buffet of samplers, so to say, may spark interest in one topic or two to decide to dig in further to—and the range of subjects covered means that no one subject overstays its welcome, and everyone should find at least one thing they're interested in.

[Alex T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and to-the-point, but very informative. I do wish there was maybe a tiny bit more bloat to this as it's so curt, but maybe this really is all there is to tell about the topic (at least at the time when this book was published).