Wild lynx to be reintroduced to UK?

It's an admirable idea but I doubt that it'll happen anytime soon. People have an aversion to large carnivores being introduced in close proximity to them for some reason... :rolleyes:
 
Brum said:
It's an admirable idea but I doubt that it'll happen anytime soon. People have an aversion to large carnivores being introduced in close proximity to them for some reason... :rolleyes:
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I wouldn't really consider a lynx to be a large carnivore, I'd rank it was a medium-sized one. And the public would probably never even see them! There are Bobcats living in the forests around my home and my neighborhood and I've spotted them twice in my lifetime and it has been many years since my last sighting.

~Thylo:cool:
 
It'll be interesting to see how this goes. Hopefully they'll accommodate to their surroundings well and thrive.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I wouldn't really consider a lynx to be a large carnivore, I'd rank it was a medium-sized one.
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It's big enough to take the family dog or cat then it's large enough to be a concern to average Joe. A lot of people would look at a lynx and think "It's quite large, could it attack my child?"
Also, we're a (relatively) small island and have no larger predators. The biggest we have are foxes and people are already worried enough about them attacking their children.

BBC News - Fox attacked baby boy in own home, police say
 
Brum said:
It's big enough to take the family dog or cat then it's large enough to be a concern to average Joe. A lot of people would look at a lynx and think "It's quite large, could it attack my child?"
Also, we're a (relatively) small island and have no larger predators. The biggest we have are foxes and people are already worried enough about them attacking their children.

BBC News - Fox attacked baby boy in own home, police say
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Wow. Here we have black bears and most people don't even worry about them attacking their children. People seem to worry more about the Coyotes bothering their dogs than anything else.

~Thylo:cool:
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Wow. Here we have black bears and most people don't even worry about them attacking their children. People seem to worry more about the Coyotes bothering their dogs than anything else.

~Thylo:cool:
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That's because you have an already extant population of major carnivores, the UK have been without any since the extermination of the grey wolf in the 16th or 17th century. And the UK press love a bit of drama to get their papers moving... :rolleyes:
I personally have no problem with the reintroduction of locally extinct species but the average member of the public may well feel differently! ;)
 
Brum said:
That's because you have an already extant population of major carnivores, the UK have been without any since the extermination of the grey wolf in the 16th or 17th century. And the UK press love a bit of drama to get their papers moving... :rolleyes:
I personally have no problem with the reintroduction of locally extinct species but the average member of the public may well feel differently! ;)
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I suspect that they might be shot by a farmer. 110 years later, and I am sure humans in the area would react the same way: BBC News - 'Big cat' Canadian lynx was on the loose in UK in 1903
 
I really do not know what all the fuss is about. Lynx hunt prey the size of roe deer and hare, perhaps wild suid. No red deer or anything else. Besides lynx are quite secretive felines - quite like a wild cat - and will not show themselves that often. Prefering dusk and dawn and early nighttime to hunt.

What the lynx will most probably hunt in the UK is roe deer, muntjac and the other invasive small deer species introduced into the UK, hare, rabbit and mice, vole and birds.

Carnivore species that potentially can larger prey are only the brown bear and the wolf. Even so, I do feel / think that re-introduction is valid and feasible for all these.

I would hope new legislation will be introduced as all species are on the EU Habitat Charter and thus should receive formal legislative protection in any EU country. Vis a vis legislation the progressive attitude of the German government in wolf regeneration should be the red line. :)
 
KB do you know if there has been any research on the effect of Lynx on the amount of foxes and feral cats?
 
I do hope this goes ahead, our only real preditor is a red fox and that's not big enough to take down the deer. The UK is always moaning that it's over run with deer, including invasive species, so why not reintroduce an animal that was naturally here, to take advantage of the large population of deer that will most likely be culled anyway. I'm all for reintroducing species, maybe not so much bears and wolves though... I mean i'd love them to be here, but they haven't been for so long we've adapted to life without them, farmers would end up killing most of them anyway sadly. But I do hope at-least the Lynx makes a comeback.
 
Regarding the pray of lynx, here are results of faces analysis from Sumava (Czech republic) from 2000-2002:

A percentage of samples that contained:
roe deer 61,48%
red deer 26,23%
wild boar 13,11%
mouflon 3,28%
domestic sheep 0,82%

bank vole 6,56%
common vole 5,74%
water vole 2,46%
field vole 2,46%
other rodents <2 %

red fox 6,56%
domestic cat 2,46%
badger, marten <2 %

mole 0,82%

birds (without determination) 16,39%
 
I think it's a great idea. Lynx are a native species wiped out by us humans, and they belong in the British countryside. They'd do a good job controlling deer numbers. Woodland regeneration takes place, more habitat for threatened species like capercaillie.
 
Jana said:
Regarding the pray of lynx, here are results of faces analysis from Sumava (Czech republic) from 2000-2002:

A percentage of samples that contained:
roe deer 61,48%
red deer 26,23%
wild boar 13,11%
mouflon 3,28%
domestic sheep 0,82%

bank vole 6,56%
common vole 5,74%
water vole 2,46%
field vole 2,46%
other rodents <2 %

red fox 6,56%
domestic cat 2,46%
badger, marten <2 %

mole 0,82%

birds (without determination) 16,39%
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Thanks Jana for the prey source base in Sumava. It stands - for those good readers - that sheep or domestic cattle are really marginally on their diet. These are more like accidental takes (wolves are far more likely to kill, but not consume sheep ... but even here domestic dogs are the usual suspects). A large portion is roe deer, with boar + making up for a good portion of the rest.

*** the figures do not add/come up to 100% ***
 
The figures do not add up to 100%, because some samples contained rests of more then 1 species.
 
Jana said:
The figures do not add up to 100%, because some samples contained rests of more then 1 species.
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OK, thanks for clarifying.

So, 60% roe deer would translate in the UK to roe deer, water deer, muntjac .. et cetera and almost the 40% boar/red deer in the mix.

It seems the lynx has a role eeked out for it already! :D
 
Must admit that I like the 6.5% fox and the 2.5% domestic cat as well. I would asume that the amount of cats in the diet would be higher in the UK as they will be available in large quantities.
 
The Eurasian Lynx and the Eagle Owl are an odd pair: the fossil record shows that both were present in the UK after the last Ice Age, and that's about all we're able to say with confidence. They both seem to have gone far earlier than might have been expected.

I suspect that most UK people would tolerate lynx with more equanimity than wolves. The latter is the acid test, but we will have to face it at some time or another. British conservationists can't indefinitely go on preaching the virtues of large carnivores to people in African and Asia but practising something else at home.
 
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