whatilearned
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolves_in_Ireland
TIL that Ireland was nicknamed Wolf-Land for its substantial population. Hundreds of wolf pelts used to be exported yearly, and English governments banned the export of wolfhounds in order to control the wild population.
2 Comments
Leave a ReplyLeave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Other wolf facts…
In Anglo-Saxon England, wolves were so numerous that three months (January to March) were known to be ‘wolf-hunting season’. Despite the name, wolves were more often trapped than hunted through the use of pitch, which wolves would have had greater difficulty in smelling the pitch than at other months. The wolf is generally thought to have become extinct in England by the 1500s, by which time wolf pelts were procured instead from Ireland.
In Scotland, wolves were such a problem in the area of Sutherland especially that graves were dug on islands due to their habit of digging up mainland graveyards, and their propensity to hunt cattle herds there led to King James VI to make it compulsory to hunt wolves three times a year.
Great info. This sent me on a very satisfying deep-dive.