Proposed Reintroduction of Lynx....thoughts?

[Skyelines]

It strikes me that this is more of a publicity exercise by the Lynx UK Trust than it having a serious possibility of actually getting a licence.

I cannot see how any government could/would give a licence to a charity, company or private individual to release animals on land they do not own considering the number of other parties likely to be impacted by it.

[rodderss]

Think there’s enough things need protecting before we need to think about lynx reintroduction.

I read a fictional book during lockdown about Lynx being stolen from a zoo and reintroduced in Scotland somewhere.cant remember its name but a decent enough read.

[Caberfeidh]

It's a different world now, there is not the environment to provide for the needs of the creatures which lived here in ancient times. Beavers will have a hard enough time in the highlands, when there were loads of them, there were loads of trees too. Now they'll have to make do with heather and bracken. Same with bison and auroch; the bison of North America are plains animals but European bison (Wisent) were/are forest animals. From writings from the middle ages so were Auroch. We could do with more ancient-style forests before we go reintroducing the animals which depended on the forests. The way things are now the animals could only live as exhibits in a big safari park, which would be overly expensive and a bit pointless. You could just visit Norway instead. I am currently in Norway, and though the scenery is fantastic, the only wildlife I've seen was a deer we nearly hit on the road in the middle of the night on the way to the hotel. And you can do that back home in Blighty. Now back to my evil plans to retro-breed the Auroch from a highland ox and that giant cow which appeared in Australia...

Giant Australian Cow

Jolstravatnet Lak near Helgheim, Norway

[Lightfoot2017]

1200 years ago Britain had

1 million Boar
Over 1 million Deer
10,000 Brown Bears
5000 Wolves
100,000 Beavers
80,000 Aurochs (wild cattle 6 feet in height, weighing 1 ton)
Reindeer

Eh? Those are suspiciously and conveniently well rounded figures. How do they know? Did they ear tag them all?

[apollo0815]

Lynx got reintroduced in the forests around or village(in Germany) over the last few years, and I have heard of no problems whatsoever.
Germany is a lot more densely populated than Scotland.

[Highland Panda]

There is good evidence including dead lynx to show that there are already breeding populations of Lynx in England

It is doubtful that any will be officially released in Scotland, but if they were it is unlikely you would ever see them

[BigTed]

1200 years ago Britain had

1 million Boar
Over 1 million Deer
10,000 Brown Bears
5000 Wolves
100,000 Beavers
80,000 Aurochs (wild cattle 6 feet in height, weighing 1 ton)
Reindeer
.

3500 years since there were Aurochis in Scotland.

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/extinct-british-wildlife

But you are right about man's toll on our wildlife. My wife's father was a gamekeeper in Perthshire in the 60s. She used to have a photo of him holding a large dead wildcat presumably trapped or shot by him. I'd like to think we live in more enlightened times but with the number of birds of prey still being killed I'm not sure.

[Marty_JG]

Those are suspiciously and conveniently well rounded figures.

I'd be more suspicious if the figures were NOT rounded.

[LewisDavie]

My own opinion of wildlife reintroduction is perhaps a rather selfish one, but I really like the fact that (high winds, low temperatures and steep drops aside) Scotland's wilderness isn't dangerous. I can go anywhere in this country and not have to be worried about being attacked by a wild animal.

It's the reason I would be against having wolves return. Heck, that would pretty much end my Munro journey if I knew they were out there. But I also understand that my opinion is not really justifiable - a healthy ecosystem far outweighs my own comfort.

As for the lynx, however, I think we're probably safe.

[Marty_JG]

Wolves almost never attack anyone, in countries with wolf populations attacks are infinitesimally rare compared to attacks (and deaths) by cows.

The wilds of Scotland might be safe, but the fields (which include hill trails) are not.

[Caberfeidh]

Wolves do attack people, maybe more than you might think as people do disappear in the mountains and are never seen again, not even small bits of them. However, when I was in the Middle East, we used to camp out in the desert, just lying on a thin mattress and covered by a blanket or sleeping bag, and in the morning we would wake to find paw-prints of wolves around us; the wolves had walked amongst the sleepers, though there may only have been a couple of feet between us, and we never heard a thing.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/british-woman-hiking-in-greece-attacked-devoured-by-pack-of-wolves/

Hunting Al Deeb in the Great Nejd Desert

[Glengavel]

I remember once reading a quote, attributed to a Yukon fur trapper, which went "anyone who says he was et by a wolf is a liar"...

[Marty_JG]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/british-woman-hiking-in-greece-attacked-devoured-by-pack-of-wolves/

From that very article:

Wolves roam remote parts of Greece and have been reported in the Petrota area but attacks on humans are very rare and no fatal attacks have been reported in decades.

On the other hand cows in the UK kill about half a dozen people every year.

[37201xoIM]

Strongly support this myself and would love to think it might begin to happen in my lifetime.

The limited programmes that have happened in certain areas of Switzerland and Germany's Harz mountains have been generally pretty successful, and farmers have been generally OK with it provided that they're not just left to deal with any consequences for themselves. While livestock kills are rare, they are not unknown - they can be reduced further by appropriate fencing, but yes, there will also have to be sensible compensation schemes.

Bear in mind they will only be able to be introduced in very limited areas - Scotland is of course no longer the heavily forested country it once was, and lynx would not live in open highland environments. Also bear in mind there's little evidence they would compete with Scottish wildcats: the prey is different.

And I agree that one of the strongest arguments is keeping deer (roe plus the occasional young red) under control: while I'm sure we all enjoy seeing these on our walks, there's really no disputing that, in the absence of a natural predator, their populations are out of control, with negative environmental / ecological consequences - and so the need for human intervention in the form of regular culls.

Of course, as has been said above, even if it does happen, as I fervently hope, you'd be incredibly unlikely actually to see one! Mind, the unlikelihood of seeing a certain creature doesn't appear to have done all that much harm to the tourist economy of a certain large Loch...!

But yes, let's be honest, they are also ridiculously beautiful beasties too...!

[Caberfeidh]

On the other hand cows in the UK kill about half a dozen people every year.

Well I don't fancy being killed and eaten by a pack of killer cows either. At least we can turn them into burgers and eat our way to safety.
As for the unlikelyhood of seeing a lynx if they are released, most people never see otters, adders and eagles but we've seen a fair few, amongst other rare and wondeful creatures,to judge by the wildlife photos page, because we are by our nature the type of people who lurk in the wilds and unfrequented places and see wildlife. You may just find that the elusive lynx nicks off with your sandwiches next time you're out by Loch Lomond. A stoat once nicked my mackerel.