For more than 1000 years England’s woodlands have been devoid of wild animals such as bears and wolves.
Now, after a number of rewilding initiatives, native bears and wolves are coming snout to muzzle with each other among towering oaks and ashes in a slice of the country’s woodlands. European brown bears, thought to have become extinct in the British wilds in medieval times, and grey wolves – which roamed free until the 17th century – are to coexist in a project called Bear Wood near Bristol, in the southwest of England.
The idea of the scheme is to give visitors the chance to see how these animals would have coexisted in the woodland that used to cover much of Britain. Another fascinating aspect to observe will be how the woodland and its current inhabitants, such as hedgehogs and birds, will react to the presence of bears and wolves.
From Thursday 25 July, members of the public will be able to observe bears, wolves, lynxes and wolverines from the safety of a raised walkway as the animals pad and prowl around a large wooded paddock. The multimillion-pound project is partly funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development as well as by grants and donations.
