Folly of ‘rewilding’ Garden of England
ISEE reports that the Kent Wildlife Trust is planning to re-introduce some European bison to woodland near Canterbury. And sure enough, all the hallmarks of such fantasists are there. They claim various benefits – which we’ll return to momentarily – clinging to the idea that this will somehow help reset the clock on our burdened eco-system. The European bison – taller and rangier than its American cousin – is a large undomesticated bovine, which used to roam the pre-historic European landscape. Extinct in the wild a century ago, they’ve been bred up from zoo animals, and now live wild in four or five Eastern European countries, all with very low population levels, which in turn depend on whether 20% of the population is in fact currently locked down on a vegetable farm in Herefordshire.
The Kent Wildlife Trust are intending to hold these bison in an enclosure, apparently before releasing them into 1,200 acres of woodland. I’m not sure what level of stupidity is required to assume they’ll stay put, because it is a dead cert that they’ll soon wander off. One of the busiest
‘An 800kg bison grinding you into the floor is likely to spoil your morning’
roads in Kent passes handily by, so you can reasonably presume that some poor hurried commuter is going to find out, when he slams into one at 70mph one dimpsey morning, what it’s like to have a bison land in your lap. Fatal, very likely. And should they proliferate, and become established, it is a matter of fact that they’ll eventually run into bovine TB, and become part of the infection cycle. How they’ll react to meeting dog walkers and joggers in that untamed wilderness that is East Kent remains to be seen. I think it’s reasonable to presume that an irritated 800kg wild bison grinding you into the floor is going to spoil your morning. Will those responsible be forced to take out enduring liability insurance?
Meanwhile on mainland Europe, where the rewilding lobby have had successes, the landscape is changing for those who actually live in it. Beavers alter river systems to suit themselves, and it’s come as a horrible surprise that these purposes don’t always match our own expectations. Suddenly you find a tree-lined river has become a vastly widened marsh. Wolves abound to the extent that lowland shepherds in Germany are increasingly being expected to keep their flocks in high electric fenced enclosures. The summer Alpine pastures are now somewhat spoiled by cattle walking about with their guts hanging out, and whole flocks of dismembered sheep. The tourist brochures won’t be showing these pictures, but the herders would rather you saw them to see what your urban fantasies have brought about. In recent weeks, close to where I helped herd Tyrolean cows last summer, a bear has taken to attacking people. Unless it is dealt with it’s obviously only a matter of time before it kills and eats someone.
This isn’t in the empty reaches of the Alaskan wasteland, or Siberian tundra, but in densely populated, historically settled and farmed Europe. It’s notable that the organisation standing behind this bison project is the Wildwood Trust, dedicated to ‘rewilding’ Britain.
Now back to the claims being made to justify this nonsense. To quote the Kent Wildlife Trust, ‘A wilder, nature-based solution is the right one to tackling the climate and nature crisis’ Really? Tackle climate change? Hang on a minute Maister… these yere Bison, they’m just big shaggy wild cows aren’t they? Well I’ve already got 300-head of something pretty similar, and have endured an endless barrage of people accusing them, and me, of causing climate change. The specific, and now completely debunked, allegation that their methane burps are causing global warming would surely apply to bison just the same? It would be funny if it didn’t mask such an insidious and fallacious implication. I’m right at the bluntest edge of what farming is, grazing hill sheep and cattle in a manner almost indistinguishable from much of their natural behaviour. We shape natural processes to reliably feed millions and millions more people...that’s what farming is. It’s how humankind is able to spawn uncontrollably across the landscape. It’s how the majority of humans are able to buy a new car, inventing more junk to order on-line, or hopping on a plane for a spot of winter sun.
Popping a few quid in the rewilders collection tin is not going to undo the damage human behaviour is doing. It might salve your conscience for a moment, but their farmer hating fantasy is about as stupidly ugly as a mindset can be when you dig right down to its core.