Wolves in Ireland

[3] The Irish words for wolf are Mac Tíre ("son of the land"), Faoil and Cú Allaidh ("wild dog"),[4] and association with human transformation linger.

[12] The grey wolf (Canis lupus) is a canine of the order Carnivora, an apex predator largely feeding on ungulates.

According to the Annals of Loch Cé, the poet Cúán úa Lothcháin (died AD 1024) was "slain by the men of Tethfa.

God performed a ‘poet's miracle,' manifestly, on the party that killed him, for they died an evil death, and their bodies were not buried until wolves and birds preyed upon them.

"[16] In AD 1571, as a result of its comprehensive destruction by "James Mac Maurice ... (and) ... the warlike troops of the Clann-Sweeny and Clann-Sheehy", Kilmallock "became the receptacle and abode of wolves" [17] In AD 1573, the aftermath of the battle of Bel-an-Chip was described - "Noisy were the ravens and carrion-crows, and other ravenous birds of the air, and the wolves of the forest, over the bodies of the nobles slain in the battle on that day.

72–73,[19]) In the aftermath of the wreck of the Spanish Armada in AD 1588, Francisco de Cuellar turned to check upon a companion only to find him dead.

And so there was nought but abundance of misery ... [21] Throughout most of the first half of the 17th century, Ireland had a substantial wolf population of not less than 400 and maybe as high as 1,000 wolves at any one time.

[1][2] The level of rewards and bounties established by Oliver Cromwell's regime attracted a few professional wolf hunters to Ireland, mostly from England.

[1][2] In AD 1652 the Commissioners of the Revenue of Cromwell's Irish Government set substantial bounties on wolves, £6 for a female, £5 for a male, £2 for a subadult and 10 shillings for a pup.

Galway, Mayo, Sligo and part of Leitrim had proportionately more wolves than the rest of the country, given that large tracts of this area were relatively untouched by humans.

[1] A Captain Edward Piers was leased land over a five-year period in Dunboyne, County Meath on the condition that he kill 14 wolves and 60 foxes.

[23][24] In 2019, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan called for the reintroduction of wolves to help rewild the countryside and control deer numbers; however the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, has stated that her department currently has no plans to do so.