Trossachs is now target for missing lynx
A Welsh-based group intent on bringing the Eurasian lynx back to the UK has turned its attention away from Kintyre and towards the Trossachs as a potential release site.
The Lynx Trust’s scientific advisor, Dr Paul O’Donoghue, announced this week that the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, an area between Drymen and Callander on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, is his preferred location for a trial release.
Until last year Kintyre was in the sights of the trust as a possible trial site. The Argyll farming community at the time was unconvinced by arguments put forward by Dr O’Donoghue, who said at an Inveraray meeting in March 2019 that there would be ‘zero risk’ to humans, and that across Europe lynx kill on average 0.4 sheep per lynx per year.
This predation level was dismissed by farmers who said this Europe-wide figure meant little, as it included areas where no lynx were present.
Dr O’Donoghue said that roe deer made up around 95 per cent of the diet of a lynx, but farmers are concerned that control by forest managers has left the deer population particularly low, leaving sheep as an obvious alternative prey.
In a Facebook post this week, the Lynx Trust UK announced: ‘We can finally announce that the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park has been selected as the first lynx reintroduction site in our ambitious plans to reintroduce the Eurasian lynx to Scotland.
‘Over the past year, we have been carrying out an extensive ecological feasibility study in collaboration with the University of Lancaster, assessing habitat suitability for lynx across the whole of Scotland.
‘The conclusions show that vast tracts of the Scottish countryside are suitable for lynx and could support well over 250 individuals.’
It is understood that preliminary discussions have been held with Scottish Natural Heritage and the trust now plans to hold a public consultation, with the first public event to be held in September.
Dr O’Donoghue proposes releasing three Eurasian lynx – one male and two females – for a five-year trial period.
The cats, around the size of a German shepherd dog, have been extinct in Britain since around the time of St Columba.
After last year’s meeting in Inveraray, Dr O’Donoghue was accused by many of ‘not listening’ to the concerns of farmers. The chairman of NFU Scotland’s Environment and Land Use Committee, Oban farmer Angus MacFadyen, said: ‘I’ve got great concerns about where this project may lead and what effect it could have on the environment as well as the farming community.’