IEHN Meetings

14 April, 2011, Trinity College Dublin

The Fourteenth Meeting of the Irish Environmental History Network featured a talk by Dr. Kieran Hickey of the Department of Geography, National University of Ireland, Galway. The talk was entitled "Wolves in Ireland: A Natural and Cultural History", and a short abstract may be found below.

This talk will assess the evidence for wolves in Ireland using a variety of sources including archaeological, placenames, folklore and documentary information. It will be shown that wolves were a deep part of Ireland’s cultural history mostly forgotten and that they were a major component of the Irish landscape long before humans arrived and right up to 1786 when the last wild one was most likely killed. An assessment of wolf numbers will be presented based on a variety of evidence and the cause of their demise will also be outlined. The case for re-introduction will also be discussed.

The meeting took place from 5pm, Thursday 14 April, 2011, in Room 3051, Floor 3, Arts Block, Trinity College Dublin, and was chaired by Prof. David Dickson of Trinity College Dublin.

A video podcast of this meeting will be made available online shortly.