In a ‘first of its kind’ project for the UK, Wilderlife and the Railway Land Wildlife Trust have been asking local dogs and their owners in the town of Lewes to ‘act like wolves’ to help reseed native wildflowers at the Railwayland nature reserve. Before wolves were persecuted to extinction in the UK around 1760, they roamed large areas, typically covering 20km or more each night. As they did so they carried wildflower and grass seeds in their fur, often depositing them many miles away to establish new colonies of plants. Now, in a unique project, local dog walkers have been asked by staff at the Railway Land Wildlife Trust in Lewes to ‘walk in the shadow of wolves’. Walkers on the nature reserve have been picking up specially designed dog backpacks which they attach to their dogs. As the dogs walk through carefully selected areas of the reserve the holes in the packs allow seeds to be deposited randomly. Because the dogs cover more ground than people and visit areas that are hard to ...