Lynxes effect-wild cats set for a return

Comback kits ... wild lynxes could be set for UK return

 

By CHRIS PACKHAM, TV presenter

Published: 27th May 2013

WILD lynxes might be reintroduced to the British countryside after dying out here almost 1,000 years ago. 
 
The big cats, which can reach four feet in length, could be released on the west coast of Scotland. 
 
The Lynx UK Trust charity hopes to get its application to reintroduce them considered by Scottish Natural Heritage this week. 
 
Here, a TV wildlife expert argues the creatures will be good for Britain even if farmers and game owners are worried: 

LYNXES used to be here and, along with wolf and bear, were our “top of the food-chain” mammal predators.

We killed them off long ago and ever since we have been living an artificially cosy existence in a predator-less countryside.

As a result we have a deer population that is raging out of control and damaging many habitats and the species that live in them — things such as woodland birds and butterflies.

Predator ... wild cat (alamy)

 

Lynxes weigh in at up to 30kgs, or almost 5st, and their preferred prey is roe deer. With 350,000 of these deer in Scotland alone there’s plenty of food out there for them — they would eat about 60 each a year.

But would or could they hurt us? Emphatically no. These cats are so secretive that their presence can go unnoticed for years.

Have they ever attacked humans? There are no authenticated attacks by healthy wild lynxes on humans.

Would they kill livestock? Yes, sheep, sporadically and in predictable and controllable ways which can thus be managed. But already the “scaremongers” have piped up with mistruths and mischief.
Is it too much to ask that those who wish to debate and decide the project are aware of the realities of living with lynxes and of their real ecology and behaviour?

So let’s exclude the opinions of the ill-informed and narrow-minded and get on with making the UK a better place for wildlife.

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