Anja Murray: We have to take on the role of the wolf in managing our woodlands

After a reign of more than 25,000 years in Ireland, the last Irish wolf was said to have been killed in 1786, on the slopes of Mount Leinster in County Carlow. The ecological ramifications of eradicating woodlands and wolves from the landscape have been enormous

In early medieval Ireland, wolves were fondly known as ‘mac tíre’, which directly translated means son of the land

At the weekend I found myself in a cinema full of children spontaneously howling like wolves. They were imitating the behaviour we were all watching on the big screen — the characters in the animated film Wolfwalkers.

The story is set in Kilkenny in 1650, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Forests all around are being cleared for livestock by woodcutters, under orders from the authoritarian ‘Lord Protector’ (aka Oliver Cromwell). The filmmaker, Oscar-winning Cartoon Saloon, has been careful to ensure that the historical context is accurate. The characters at the core of the film, however, are mythological beings who are human by day, wolf by night.