Bring on the lynx ...they’ll save us cash, say landowners
LANDOWNERS are backing plans to reintroduce lynx into Scotland as they believe the move could save them money in controlling deer.
Conservation trust Lynx UK has been holding talks on its plan to release the large cats in forests running between Dumbarton and Inverness.
The body said it has had ‘significant support’ from landowners within the 10,000 square miles at the centre of the consultation since launching talks three months ago.
It said large estates spend thousands of pounds annually on deer-proofing land with specialised fencing in order to protect environmental regeneration projects.
The estates also cull hundreds of deer each season in a bid to keep numbers sustainable.
Both the Queen’s Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire and 40,000-acre Glen Feshie estate, in Invernessshire, have faced hefty bills in the past hiring marksmen and installing fencing.
Glen Feshie, owned by ASOS billionaire Anders Povlsen, culls up to 500 deer every year to protect the
‘Missing part of the ecosystem’
8,000-year-old Caledonian pine forest within its boundaries.
Thomas MacDonell, director of conservation for the estate, said: ‘We are trying to build a habitat that will be much more diverse which will potentially include apex predators such as the lynx, and there are areas within the Cairngorms where it would be possible that we could support around six of them.
‘There is a problem with the suppression of woodland because of red deer, which do not have any natural predators apart from man, so the reintroduction of these predators would restore a missing part of the ecosystem.’
Mr MacDonell said that there is also a potential for landowners to make money from eco tourism, adding: ‘Though it is unlikely that anyone going out to see a lynx would find one, just having them in the area makes it more attractive in terms of tourism.’
Lynx UK also plans to release six mating lynx into Kielder Forest, which runs along the Border and into Northumberland.
Although the project has yet to be rubber-stamped by Westminster and heritage body Natural England, the trust hopes to introduce the cats for a five-year period, closely monitoring them with satellite tracking and radio collars.
Eurasian lynx have been known to range through a territory of up to 280 square miles as they hunt for food.
In September, Lloyds of London announced it had made £5million available to cover ‘every person, pet and sheep’ in the UK against attack if the release got the go-ahead.
Lynx UK chief scientific adviser Dr Paul O’Donoghue said ‘We have had significant support from landowners who are facing having to spend a lot of money a year on deer culling. Deer-proof fencing costs thousands of pounds a year to build and maintain. Then there’s the cost of culling because these animals don’t have any natural predators left in Britain.
‘Deer also cause problems with forestry regeneration. At the moment, deer graze on the same spot until vegetation has been destroyed, but if lynx were in the area they would be constantly on the move, which is the way they are supposed to behave.’
Lynx became extinct in Britain 1,300 years ago as a result of hunting and habitat loss but conservationists estimate a population of 400 cats could be supported.
Forest Enterprise Scotland spends around £700,000 each year on deer fencing, including maintenance. Scottish Natural Heritage figures show that 115,332 deer were culled in 2014-15. A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Any applications to release large carnivores either in or near Scotland would be very carefully scrutinised.’