Bringing lynx back to Northumberland backed by 72% of locals, consultation finds

Leader Live

a day ago

One of only two native cat species in Britain along with the wild cat, lynx vanished 800 years ago due to hunting and loss of their woodland habitat.
While other lost or rare species such as beavers and pine martens are now staging comebacks in Britain, large predators such as lynx and wolves have proved more controversial, with concerns over their presence in a highly populated island and the risk they could pose to livestock.
Conservationists say it is right to at least consider bringing back the lynx to help tackle problems caused by deer, boost woodland ecosystems and reverse declines in nature in Britain.
A scientific assessment by the Missing Lynx Project has found the cats could thrive if released in Northumberland, the only area of England and Wales with enough woodland to support them.
Around 20 animals released over several years into the Kielder forest area could grow over time into a healthy population of around 50 in north-west Northumberland and bordering areas of Cumbria and southern Scotland, the peer-reviewed paper found.
Findings from more than 1,000 questionnaires as part of a year-long social consultation by the project, led by The Lifescape Project in partnership with Northumberland Wildlife Trust and The Wildlife Trusts, show 72% of people in the project area support a potential lynx reintroduction.
The consultation also included an exhibition touring the region visited by almost 10,000 people, more than 100 stakeholder meetings and one-to-one interviews with community groups, farmers, landowners, foresters and business, and a series of workshops.
The project even ran trips for farmers to Europe to see how people were living with reintroduced lynx there.
Now, the team is continuing to work with locals to discuss how a potential reintroduction could be managed and is urging people across the UK to get involved with a national questionnaire.
Lynx are solitary animals around the size of a slim Labrador, with distinctive tufty ears, which live in forests and woodland, and catch their prey – mainly deer, but also foxes, rabbits and hares – by ambushing them.
Mike Pratt, chief executive of Northumberland Wildlife Trust, said it was right to consider bringing back the species to what should be the wildest part of England.
The lynx could provide benefits including controlling deer, managing woodland ecosystems better and even providing ecotourism opportunities – though the chance of actually seeing what he describes as 'ghosts of the woodland' is very small.
He said: 'The power of it is having this creature that should always have been there in these forests of the borders, where it's almost a symbol of the wildness of that area.
'It would symbolise that we're really serious, in what should be the wildest part of the country, (about) bringing nature back.'
While the project would consider applying for a reintroduction licence 'down the line', following the positive response to the initial consultation, the focus now is on working up a plan with local people that is deliverable, he said.
One of the key concerns with lynx is the likelihood of them taking sheep in fields adjoining woodland.
Measures that could be used – as they have in Europe – to reduce the risk to livestock include electric fencing, guard dogs, compensation payments and people on the ground to respond to issues.
Dr Deborah Brady, lead ecologist for the Lifescape Project, told the PA news agency: 'For this country we expect the risk to be reasonably low, but there is definitely a risk.
'Even if it is low, everything matters, for every sheep taken there is an impact on that individual farmer, both an emotional impact and a financial impact.
'We need to work really closely and carefully with farmers to think about how we best approach it.'
Dr Brady is clear the cats pose no danger to people.
'They avoid people wherever they can, people rarely see them and there has been no recorded fatality from lynx ever, so they are no danger to adults or children, they are no danger to people,' she said.
While she said their return is not going to be the 'silver bullet' to the problem of an overlarge deer population, as each lynx only kills one deer a week, the presence of a predator helps keeps herds moving and reduces overgrazing.
Bringing back a native species such as the lynx can help rebuild ecosystems and start to 'turn the tide' on wildlife loss in the UK, one of the world's most nature-depleted countries, she said.
Lauren Harrison, a sheep farmer on Hadrian's Wall, said she was excited but 'quite ignorant' about lynx before she visited the Missing Lynx exhibition.
'I was very excited and very positive, but I had concerns for the livestock,' she said.
She has since gone on a visit with other farmers to Switzerland and Germany where she saw it was possible to live alongside the animals.
Her land is sufficiently far from woodland not to be affected, but she said for farmers facing the small risk of losing sheep 'that needs to be managed, needs to be done in a way that's fair to farmers, that's practical, and doesn't get in the way of day-to-day life'.
She urged other farmers in the area to get involved with the project.
Alongside the practical benefits of bringing back lynx, there is an emotional value to returning the animals to Northumberland, she believes.
'It's a slightly forgotten-about area around here, we are a long way from Westminster and financial centres.
'Just to be the place that has this stunning creature coming back, I think it would give such a lift to know that's on our doorstep,' she said.
To take part in the national survey on reintroducing lynx, people can visit: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/missinglynxprojectquestionnaire/