Creator of the Horse Whisperer cries wolf
By Andrew Walker in the Scotsman, 26 th May 2000
Nicholas Evans, the author of The Horse Whisperer, watches wolves at Highland Wildlife Park. Picture: Ken Macpherson
THE author who brought the world of horse whispering to the public yesterday spoke of his desire to see wolves reintroduced to the wild in Scotland.
Nicholas Evans, whose literary debut The Horse Whisperer was made into a film starring Robert Redford, chose the subject of wolves for his second novel, The Loop.
The plot features the controversial reintroduction of wolves in the Rocky Mountains and Evans encountered the animals during his research .
He arrived in Scotland yesterday ahead of the opening of an exhibition of photographs of wolves from a Highland reserve. Evans will officially open the display, at Edinburgh zoo, tonight.
As he caught his first glimpse of the pack of 12 adult wolves at the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig, near Aviemore, Evans told The Scotsman of his wish to see the animals returned to their natural habitats. He believed the species has been misunderstood .
Evans, 49, a former newspaper reporter and television producer, who lives in London with his wife and two children, said: "I have developed a great passion for wolves since the last book. The reintroduction of wolves is a very complex issue and as a southerner I wouldn’t want to pontificate about what Scotland should or shouldn’t do with its land or wildlife.
"But it is certainly true that wolves have been here, although not for a long time, they belong here and should be here once more.
"There is a whole process of preparation to get to that stage, including education, gaining the confidence of the landowners and assessing the impact of these large carnivores. But I think it [reintroduction] is something that should be stated as a goal and talked about in the open."
Despite the image they have attracted, there is no recorded case of a wild wolf attacking a human in this country. The last wolf in Scotland is said to have been killed by a hunter called McQueen in 1743.
So much preparatory work would have to be completed before wolves could be allowed to live in the wild that it could be decades before action is taken.
Jeremy Usher Smith, the Highland Wildlife Park manager, said: "Unfortunately, much as we would love to hear it, the howl of the wolf is unlikely to be heard in the wild Scottish glens for two or three decades at least."
Evans said he was pleased with the success of his second novel, which has now been translated into 34 languages.
He will open the exhibition at Edinburgh zoo, entitled Wolf, which features a collection of photographs and prints by the Cumbrian-based artists, Robert Howie Smith and Janet Lambert.
Howie Smith spent several weeks at Highland Wildlife Park as a volunteer to get to know the animals.
© The Scotsman, 26 th May, 2000
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