Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, has said his government will not be reintroducing lynx or any other large carnivorous species into the wild in Scotland. Farmers have been raising concerns over such reintroductions, expressing worry about the potential impact on livestock. Animal campaigners have been working towards carefully controlled reintroductions, emphasising benefits for rural biodiversity. The legality of reintroductions was brought to the forefront after four lynx were illegally released in the Cairngorms last month while concerns continue to rise over Scotland’s absence of predators.
Native to Scotland hundreds of years ago, lynx were hunted and suffered from habitat loss ultimately leading to their extinction between 500 and 1,000 years ago. Farmers in Scotland have raised concerns over the reintroduction of lynx to the region, arguing that treating the carnivorous species would not be compatible with Scotland’s balanced agenda. Swinney cited the previously reintroduced white-tailed sea eagle, stating that its reintroduction led to unintended consequences and impacted, “the action we’ve got to take on climate” and “food production” in rural communities.
While it is “hard to argue” that Scotland cannot accommodate the medium-sized cat, Peter Cairns of the Lynx to Scotland Project emphasised that Scotland needed to have a “carefully-managed” reintroduction. Multiple polls showed that more people than ever before in Scotland supported lynx reintroductions and Cairns suggested that supporting co-existence with wild animals could provide an effective solution to tackle the crises occurring in Scotland’s biodiversity and climate.
The introduction of once-extinct species, such as beavers, had only led to damage worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and Swinney argued that there had been unintended consequences – the beaver population increased in Perthshire. While there needs to be a “considered discussion” around the reintroduction of species into the wild and the environmental challenges at stake, “we either support the sometimes uneasy business of co-existence with wild animals, like lynx, or we endorse their absolute exclusion,” Cairns noted.
Police had issued a warning in December after two Eurasian lynx were spotted in the Cairngorms. Later, they were captured in traps near Kingussie and found to be showing signs of starvation. One of the lynx had died after it was captured, while the other three are to be cared for at Edinburgh Zoo. Although it is still to be determined from which source the lynx had originated, Lynx reintroductions would require a Dangerous Wild Animal (DWA) license, which the Highland Council has said no one holds in the area. NatureScot has not granted any licenses for lynx reintroductions in Scotland
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
