Let lynx roam free to keep deer in check, says wildlife chief
LYNX should be reintroduced into Britain’s countryside to keep deer numbers down, the head of Natural England has said.
The big cat has been missing from the UK for 1,300 years, but proponents of rewilding have called for its return, pointing to successful trials in Europe.
Tony Juniper told The Daily Telegraph that as part of his plans to restore nature, he would like to reintroduce animals that once roamed the British countryside before man hunted them to extinction and destroyed their habitats.
He said: “One animal I would like to look at – it’s more complicated and there’s much work still to be done – is whether the lynx might be reintroduced into England at some point.
“There are people looking at the wildcat – all of these things raise a set of questions and implications.” Deer have very few natural predators in the UK, so their numbers have rocketed since wolves and lynx stalked our woods.
Mr Juniper said: “We need to look carefully at all of the science.
“Functioning ecosystems are a combination of different animals and plants which live together and have a sort of synergy of relationships. Some of those animals are what you call keystone animals, and they have a particularly important role in the ecosystem.
“The beaver is one of those, and the lynx did have an important role as an apex predator to control the deer populations.”
There were discussions about a controlled release of lynx in 2018, but those behind the project at the Lynx UK Trust were not given permission and the Government is yet to make a decision on whether the big cat can be reintroduced.
Many farmers have spoken out against the idea, arguing that the predator would be likely to kill livestock.
Mr Juniper said he had been “inspired” by the return of the whitetailed eagle to the English countryside last year, and the successful fenced beaver trials across the UK. “I think the reintroduction of once-native animals that have been lost is a very inspiring way of bringing the conservation story to many people,” he said.