LAUSR

THE Lynx UK Trust has submitted an application to Natural England to reintroduce lynx back into the UK countryside following a year-long consultation. The move, which has been met with tough criticism from the farming world, would involve the release of six Eurasian lynx into Kielder Forest, which sits on the border between England and Scotland, as part of a five-year pilot study. The trust says that the lynx is a ‘shy and secretive’ creature, which makes it a perfect candidate for reintroduction. It says there have been no attacks on people by ‘healthy, wild’ Eurasian lynx and they have a very low impact on livestock, with, on average, less than one sheep killed every two years. But, the National Sheep Association (NSA) says that it is ‘strongly opposed’ to the proposed pilot release and has serious concerns about the consultation process. Phil Stocker, NSA chief executive, said: ‘Clearly NSA is opposed to lynx because of the predatory threat the species pose to sheep, but our argument is far more wide reaching than that. The subjects of food security within an uncertain climate, protected species status and land use balance are subjects that need fully debating and pulling together. Any piecemeal sanctioning of small projects which are part of a much wider debate that has not yet been properly conducted would be irresponsible and inexcusable. It is almost inconceivable that once released the lynx would ever be removed and therefore we don’t accept this is a pilot project, it is a release.’ The NSA has voiced its concerns to the trust, Natural England and Scottish Heritage. One of the Lynx UK Trust’s arguments for the proposed reintroduction is that lynx were once part of the UK’s animal population, likely hunted to extinction for fur in 500-700 AD. The trust also says that since there are no medium-sized cats in the UK now, there is an over-population of roe deer. It says the deer species is damaging the UK’s native forest ecosystem, which is causing problems all the way down the food chain. The NSA argues that the UK is a very different place to what it was when the lynx was a native species. It believes the country does not have enough large-scale, suitable habitat to support the minimum population of 250 lynx that is needed for true genetic suitability. Stocker continued: ‘Animal welfare and disease biosecurity, as well as unconsidered changes in ecology if we were to see pastoral farming decline, also present huge problems. We stand to lose the beauty of an area like Kielder if farming, grazing and human activity cannot continue as it has done for centuries in this area.’ The trust believes that the reintroduction of lynx will boost the local economy and it plans to establish a visitor centre in Kielder to act as a hub for local tourism operators and collect money from tourists to fund the trial. It says that the NSA is focussing too closely on the predation of lambs and sheep by lynx, and that it should be looking at the ‘millions’ of lambs that die each year, which would be avoidable with the provision of better shelter, nutrition and health care. Last week, the trust announced that it would be launching a sheep welfare programme to provide farmers with grants to boost flock health and reduce sheep predation. The sheep welfare grant program, which will be funded by lynx eco-tourism, aims to help local farmers with things like building lambing shelters, effectively delivering vaccinations and other critical early-life care and maintaining fencing to reduce road kills. The trust has announced that it will study the lynx population, through the use of satellite collars, to try to prevent predation against sheep. In addition, it will look into providing farmers with guardian animals, such as llamas, which it says could reduce sheep predation by two thirds. It also says that should a lynx kill a sheep, the trust will compensate the farmer using money from the visitor centre. The NSA said that it did not accept the promise that the lynx would add to eco-tourism, boosting the local economy in Kielder, nor did it accept the suggested compensation system as justification for a lynx introduction to go ahead. ‘NSA believes justifying the reintroduction of lynx by having a compensation system in place undermines the efforts that farmers go to in order to protect their flocks and maintain high welfare standards, as strived for by the farmer, required by legislation and demanded by the consumer,’ an NSA spokesperson said: