Lynx lobby gains traction in UK

THERE’S a ‘bring back the lynx’ lobby in Britain. Deer numbers in parts of England and Scotland have risen so much that their habitat is being seriously degraded. Excessive grazing is threatening native flora and there’s a new kid on the block; over 40,000 alien muntjac deer are destroying farmers’ crops.

Wolves and lynx kept deer numbers down long ago. Reintroducing them might solve the deer problem. Neither species attacks people but the thought of wolves once again roaming ‘England’s green and pleasant land’ is too scary for the public to contemplate.

The Eurasian lynx colonised Britain as the ice retreated 10,000 years ago. It survived there until at least 500AD when it was hunted to extinction for its fur. Releasing lynx at selected forest locations might be a runner but not everyone agrees with the suggestion.