The lynx loose on the Scottish Highlands
On Wednesday 8th of January, wild lynx were spotted roaming the Scottish Highlands. Lynx vanished from Britain around 1300 years ago, after being driven to extinction by hunting and habitat loss, so their sighting certainly sparked some frenzy. Talk of reintroducing lynx back into the Scottish Highlands has been circulating for some time. However, this sudden release was illegal. There has been some speculation as to why these lynx might have appeared, with some thinking that the lynx may have been abandoned pets or animals released by rogue rewilders.
“As a keystone species in the ecosystem, the lynx can alter the behaviour of the food chain”
Though wildlife activists and politicians have condemned the irresponsible release of the lynx, experts have been observing the benefits of rewilding for an extended amount of time now. Secretive and shy, these big cats can grow to about the size of a labrador retriever, with pointed ears and a spotted grey-brown coat. Having already been successfully reintroduced in Norway, Sweden and Finland, the return of the lynx to the Scottish Highlands can bring about promising ecological benefits. As a keystone species in the ecosystem, the lynx can alter the behaviour of the food chain from top to bottom and make way for more balanced flows of energy throughout the ecosystem. This is known as a trophic cascade. By targeting populations of prey like deer, foxes and rabbits, lynx help keep animals in the ecosystem on the move, preventing overpopulation and over-grazing which allows plant life to flourish. The carcasses from their kills also provide food to scavenger species such as beetles or ravens and, along with their faeces, fertilise the soil. Similar schemes utilising the trophic cascade have also brought about outstanding improvements to the biodiversity of an ecosystem. One astonishing example can be seen following the re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, where their presence led to a flourishing of all forms of wildlife, from songbirds to grizzly bears. Wildlife experts have even observed a change in the landscape’s topography following their reintroduction.
Trees for Life, one of the leading charities supporting lynx’s return to Britain, report that the research has shown that the Highlands have enough habitat and prey to support around 400 wild lynx. The ecological benefits are also very clear. However, the campaign has also faced significant backlash from farmers concerned with the potential threat to their sheep. The National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS) noted how the lynx contributed to about a fifth of the total losses in sheep in Norway, calling it an “absolute catastrophe”. Trees for Life similarly acknowledged “overriding concerns” regarding sheep predation from stakeholders in farming. Indeed, the sheep farming industry is a large one. Rewilding Britain reports that the industry employs 34,000 people on farms and another 111,405 in allied industries.
As observed by Pete Cairns, the ‘Director of Scotland: The Big Picture’, it seems that the question of whether lynx should reintroduced lies less in science, but whether the public is willing to “tolerate this”. However, with global warming exceeding 1.5C for the first full year in 2024, the pressure to act is mounting. Scientists have long since noted the deep interconnectivity of nature and human life, and the collapse of the UK’s wildlife has been linked to various negative environmental, social and economic consequences. Factors like centuries of trampling and overgrazing by both domesticated livestock and wild animals have increased flood risk, increased risk of mass movement, suppressed the growth of important carbon sinks like trees and reduced soil quality. The livestock farming industry itself also produces significant carbon emissions that exacerbate these threats- threats that will undoubtedly destabilise all aspects of the UK’s economy. The return of the lynx is one small but effective step in combatting this.
Comments (31)
It’s very clear, we have no trees.. the reason trees are not regenerating, deer there are over 1 million in Scotland alone, we must bering in a keystone species to re balance nature
There are breeds of specially bred European sheep dogs that lynx, bobcat etc won’t interfere with. The cats will keep the deer that are overgrazing the land under control. It would be worth it to the Scottish government to bear the cost of purchasing protective guard dogs and giving them to the hill farmers (or providing the dogs’ feed) foc for the benefit derived from the cats’ release. Not just the deer, the grey squirrels, foxes and rabbits’ populations would be affected.
Lynx and other wild animals should be brought back and reintroduced. Humans are ruining this county. We need the economy levelled back out.
Let lynx and wolves roam. There are no predators big enough anymore to prey on deer and they are actually overgrazing. I don’t find these predators capturing livestock unsettling because there is too much intense farming in the UK that has devastated our landscape and left us with 1 percent left of our temperate rainforest. Then again, I’m not a farmer. But these animals were here before us so it’s only fair to give them a chance at least. We aren’t the only species trying to survive. It’s very selfish and self centered.
We need to take notice of the science and research and stop listening to anecdotal
Gossip and scaremongering hysteria that
Surrounds reintroductions
Pete
A bad idea to have lynx roaming. The boneheads who like to kill things will hunt them and kill them for fun.
The population in the south, around Hearthstanes windfarm seems stable an inobtrusive. I often see one or two of them on the windfarm access road when I’m doing deliveries up there.
I’d agree except I think we both know countryside killers will hunt them for fun. It’s our loss, but the animals come first for me.
Every year, for at least the last two decades I have received a substantial number of emails , and some telephone calls , mainly from highly reputable sources, confirming to me the existence of the lynx living a wild independent existence within the UK, one eye witness, and his son , clearly saw , and Identified, a lynx pursuing some wild boar piglets in The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, quite recently.
The lynx is already here, freely living a carefree,
and mostly secretive existence, mainly in the large wooded areas of the Country,.
Being extremely secretive and shy, you just have to be in the right place at the right time to get a glimpse of a lynx!
With plenty of natural prey , especially the overabundance of small deer to fuel their diet they continue to expand here, with no regard to
(AI), ie ~academic ignorance, offered up by the authorities, and others denying their presence here and now ~
I wonder how long it would take once lynx had been reintroduced for the population to say, well that was not thought through very well, now we’ve got feral foxes, feral lynx, maybe even altered life style living in towns.
The habitat is shrinking for rural dwellers, nobody knows how many people live in UK, surprises occur when more people turn up for specific services, like covid injections than are actually recognised or expected.If lynx have been reintroduced to parts of Europe and hunted to extinction again, why would that be?
Foxes and lynx can’t be ‘feral’ as they are native species. ‘Feral’ refers to domestic animals setting up wild populations – like goats, pigs or cats for example.
Will they have to be killed if they reach the outskirts of Carlisle,Lancaster,Newcastle,Glasgow and Edinburgh?I know that they are Country dwellers but what if people feed them and they discover takeaway leftovers ?Food for thought.
Bring back the wolf’s
Lynx are very shy woodland animals. They wouldn’t come into towns
Bring back the wolf’s what?
Angelina, the picture accompanying your article is not of a Eurasian Lynx, it’s the Iberian lynx from Spain and Portugal. How can Scotland have any credibility in being the “world’s first rewilding nation”, if it can’t even reinstate a missing predator such as the lynx.
Note. Lynx were not introduced into Norway Sweden and Finland… they occur there naturally. Lynx were reintroduced in Switzerland, Italy and western Germany after to be hunted to extinction there. Losses of sheep in Norway are down to two factors. 1. Sheep graze free range in woodland setting in Lynx habitat and 2. The reporting and compensation scheme is less rigorous compared to neighbouring Sweden where you have to prove a lynx killed your sheep… for this info and more please read ‘The Lynx and Us’ an excellent and well researched book on the subject. .. author David Hetherington is a Scot and can also be found on YouTube
Spot on!!! The over reporting of sheep kill by lynx in Norway could be as high as NINEFOLD!! This would be awkward for the NFU which would not only have the rug pulled out from under the feet of their fact free melodrama, but also underline that maybe, just maybe some farmers are only interested in playing the system. In that case in this country they would be the predators we really need to look out for pocketing public money that should go to the NHS, Social Services and Education.
We should introduce predators that where here in the UK that means the whole of the uk where necessary, it’s only going to do nature and the environment good,
But we humans are the problem with our politics & nonsense really, we can take other countries as an example and learn from them who have wild predators in their countries already and if farmers have any issues and objections then take away their government subsidies and then ask them to come to the table and talk.
The Lynx belong here, as do wolves and bears, wild boar, beavers, eagles, elk, bison and wolverines
They are only missing because of Ecocidal Murder, for the sake of replacing people and older ways of life with sheep,
Overgrazed and burnt hills are a scar on the landscape and offer little biodiversity, and little resistance to flooding or high winds, the malfunctioning upland ecosystems are a travesty in a nature depleted country, and the alternative, full trophic rewilding is also the quickest, most effective and cheapest way to absorb carbon
Rewilding includes apex predators for restoring biodiversity. Ltbz are a perfect example, if Europe and America are able to manage why can’t, we, the predation from domestic dogs is much worse of sheep for example is present and much greater problem right now.
I think introducing Lynx to scotland is a great idea 💡 though I would suggest that they go the whole way & give Brute & High Karate a go too.
I think it is really important to reintroduce lynx and other animals.to the wild for the benefit of the environment in general. Shepherds in Europe.and elsewhere have specially-bred guard dogs like the Maremma. Why is pathetic Britain unable to do the same?
I feel lynx as well as mountain lion, jaguar, sabre toothed tiger and wolves should all be reintroduced to the Scottish Highlands as the place is over run by wild haggis at the moment.
Lynx must be reintroduced not only to Scotland but also to parts of Cymru and
England, Apex predator’s are non existent in this pathetic UK, why is it all the countries in Europe can live next to this stunning animal and UK farmers cannot, if they can’t remove the tax payers subsidy.
We’re a small country but we’ve managed to decimate the real wildlife and replace it with tamed versions like deer and pheasant . reintroduce loads more of otters beavers eagles lynx etc that were here years ago
We do need more wildlife in the UK.
However, this will mean a sea change to the way we currently behave as shepherds, custodians and animal rearers.
And sad to say, people don’t like change, mostly because they can no longer run on “automatic pilot”.
I think that in some countries shepherds do look out for their sheep and often have stock guard dogs.
I think the number of people on the hills 100 years ago would be significantly lower than today. Walkers, campers, hikers, runners, bikers, farm folk, gamekeepers. How would it all work?
They’re not tigers. They don’t predate humans, in fact they avoid us. Plenty of room for them, us and the sheep.
There were a lot more people living in the highlands than today … have you not heard of the Highland Clearances? Absentee landlords evicted whole communities to make way for sheep, forestry and deer stalking in the 19th Century. The challenge persists in that these landowners own vast areas and dont want to see predators reintroduced that might impact on their sporting or farming enterprises… completely ignoring the opportunity for ecosystem recovery from huge deer numbers overgrazing and the economic opportunities of green tourism with the jobs it would bring …
Lynx should be reintroduced to the. Highlands