Kielder Forest to feel the lynx effect
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