OPINION (AN COLÚN): The fascinating story of every dog's ancestor

Nowadays our landscape in Ireland is well-controlled, tamed and manicured. It's hard to imagine that it was once wilderness and vast forest inhabited by bear, wild cat, boar and wolf.
Among the earliest sites of human habitation in Ireland is Mount Sandel in County Derry and Lough Boora here in Offaly. In Boora a group of people, about 9,000 years ago, set up an encampment on the shores of a large lake. In some ways the landscape around them was a bit like paradise. There was abundant game to be hunted in the forests and there was abundant fish in the lake. As they lay on their beds in their shelters at night and listened to the world outside, one of the sounds which they most probably heard was the howling of wolves, a sound which has been described as one of the most terrifying and one of the most exhilarating sounds in nature. This would have remained a reasonably common sound in Ireland up until the 1600s. Now if you want to hear it you will have to go to Dublin Zoo (where there's a pack of seven) and to Wild Ireland in Donegal, a wildlife sanctuary which opened a couple of years ago. It's possible that the hunter-gatherers at Lough Boora had wolves as pets and hunting companions. In the 1980s archaeologists working on the site discovered bones which could have either been a wolf or a domestic dog. "Given that wolves," says Kieran Hickey in his excellent book 'Wolves in Ireland: a natural and cultural history', "were widespread in Ireland in the Mesolithic era and domestic dogs were rare across Europe, it is more likely that these were the bones of wolves, probably pups reared by humans."
There is also a fascinating connection in our region with the werewolf tradition. In his book Kieran points out that, “Remarkably, the term 'fear breagh' or wolf man is still in existence in the Slieve Blooms along the borders of Counties Laois and Offaly. This area had a long association with wolves.”
The werewolf tradition in Ireland is more benign than other countries. Legend tells us that several men in the old Irish kingdom of Ossory (which today is Kilkenny and west Laois) were cursed by a saint for wrongdoing and transformed into werewolves. However, the conditions of their punishment were that they attacked only cattle and sheep. Unlike werewolves in other countries they did not attack humans.
Ireland has only a relatively small number of native species of animal, and four of these (the brown bear, wild boar, wild cat and wolf) no longer remain. It's believed that the bear, boar and cat died out about a thousand years ago (bear remains were discovered in the Ailwee Caves in the Burren). The wolf remained on, in sufficient abundance for Ireland to be known as "Wolf Land". (The wolves in Britain were wiped out earlier than Ireland. The last wolves in England met their end in the early part of the fourteenth century).
All dogs are descended from the grey wolf (Canis lupus). Our close relationship in Ireland with wolves is very ancient, probably as far back as 9,000 years ago (wolves might have been in Ireland since 30,000 years ago.) Experts believe that wolves were probably the first wild animals to be used by humans. It's even envisaged that wolves and humans hunted together, which might sound outlandish and impossible to us nowadays but not when you remind yourself that every gundog and hunting hound is descended from Canis lupus. So, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility (in fact it's a pretty strong possibility) that our hunter-gatherer ancestors and wolves hunted together. They were both seeking the same prey, such as deer, and joining forces would have been a mutually beneficial partnership. The sensitive noses of the wolves meant they could track the prey much more effectively. The primitive weapons used by the humans, such as spears, could wound and kill an animal from a distance, thus shortening the duration of the hunt and bringing it to a successful conclusion. Once the prey had been killed there could have been a sharing of the spoils amongst the humans and the wolves. The nearest we can get to this now is to watch Stone Age tribes in modern-day Papua New Guinea engaging in hunts with dogs.
In mythology and folklore Canis lupus is often portrayed as being a malevolent creature (including of course Little Red Riding Hood, which dates back to the 17th century at least) but sometimes the animal gets a good press. There are touching stories which illustrate a wolf's gratitude for an act of kindness by someone. Saints often bring out the best in these creatures. For example St Molua took pity on a pack of hungry wolves. In return, out of gratitude, the pack protected his livestock. In many countries' folklore there are tales of people helping wolves in trouble. Columbanus was known as cú glas or grey wolf. Wolves would emerge from the woods and, in the manner of dogs, lick the feet of St Colman.
The Brehon Laws reveal that our ancestors sometimes kept unusual pets including herons, deer, foxes, cranes and wolves. If a pet wolf committed an offence, including attacks on people and domestic animals, the owner was charged the same fine as if the offender had been a domestic dog. The Brehon Laws do not appear to regard the wolf as being a significant danger to humans. The contemporary thinking on this matter backs this up. Attacks on people are very rare. When they do happen they are usually carried out by sick, old or rabid individuals.
My final word will go to the controversial topic of reintroducing wolves to Ireland. I think it would be wonderful to see these magnificent animals in our countryside once again, and, in spite of the difficulties, reintroduction could work. In his book Kieran Hickey says it's a bad idea. However, he does concede that it would be possible. The main issue, he says, is public opinion - it's probable that most people would be against it. In Scotland, millionaire Paul Lister owns 23,000 acres and wants to reintroduce wolves there. With the rising popularity of “rewilding” more people are coming on board with Lister's vision. At present there is nobody like him in Ireland, but with the passage of time who knows what might happen, and we might once again hear the howling of wolves in our wilderness areas.