The Daily Telegraph

Kielder Forest to feel the lynx effect

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The Lynx UK Trust has applied to Natural England to introduce six Eurasian lynx in the Kielder Forest area of Northumber­land.

This is the first time an applicatio­n for any apex predator has been made in the UK, and the proposed trial would see four females and two males taken from healthy wild population­s in Europe, released in the region and studied over a five-year period.

Likely wiped out by fur-hunting and loss of habitat about 1,300 years ago, their absence has contribute­d to an over-population of their favourite prey. Roe deer are now estimated to be at double the sustainabl­e population, causing problems all the way down the food chain and damaging the UK’S native forest ecosystem.

Eurasian lynx are a perfect reintroduc­tion candidate, with no attacks on humans ever recorded, and a very low impact on livestock. Samantha Herbert

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