In the uk, If someone had a lot of land and built a fence around it and had deer, rabbits etc and then released a predator, say a lynx, and allowed it to hunt the animals etc, would that be legal? Would it be ethical? Seen as cruel? I understand feeding live prey to animals is cruel since the prey has no chance of surviving but here it would be diffident. There would be large numbers of them and some would get to live long lives and/or die from other causes. They would have a chance to escape. I would like your opinions. I’m just asking this question out of curiosity, people are wanting to reintroduce extinct predators back into the uk and I was wondering if this would work to see how they would impact the environment before letting them truly be wild.
Rewilding?(I don’t know what to call this)
- Thread starter Holly2873
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There has been attempts to release lynx and wolves in the past that have mostly been shot down, mostly due to farmers fearing for their livestock being hunted.
That being said, I think it's a matter of time until lynx reintroduction happens as opinion is swaying to their reintroduction being positive. I don't see the others happening for a long time.
As for your specific question, I am not sure but I think many would see releasing a predator into an enclosed population as unethical.
That being said, I think it's a matter of time until lynx reintroduction happens as opinion is swaying to their reintroduction being positive. I don't see the others happening for a long time.
As for your specific question, I am not sure but I think many would see releasing a predator into an enclosed population as unethical.
Wisp O' Mist
Well-Known Member
This is basically what private game reserves in Africa are, so...
I don’t think anyone has released wolves in U.K…..
They haven't, that was my point. But there were discussions about releases in Scotland in fenced off reserves.
One such was at Alladale, the huge estate where rewilding many species including wolves was being planned. But the idea of wolves there seems to have been dropped and the whole project no longer seems to be in the news as it once was.
I recall I was recently at one of these such projects - and part of the problem with wolves, other than militant legislature, is simply one of space. Space and wolves go hand in hand - a single wolf has a territory of at least 100 square kilometres - or some 25,000 acres. Which makes it easy to see how Yellowstone; a National Park with over 2 million acres to spare, can afford to have a substantial wolf population. But the estate in question is only 3500 acres in size - and compared to other such projects in the UK that's on the larger end.
And so the question becomes one of 'who is willing to devote such an area of land to wolves?' The answer is one somewhat of disappointment - if the people of the United Kingdom truly wants a self-sustaining population of wolves, they cannot simply hope to have them secluded into a marginal smattering of nature reserves - they need interconnectivity. A wolf's natural territory is usually one that is something of a mosaic of features - something expected from such a large territory. And if we want not just a wild wolf but many wild wolves; then this is something to be worked on. Legislature must be reviewed, much consultation will have to go on with farmers for years to come. But - as for the silver lining - if the example of Yellowstone is to go by - then there is some possibility that wolves could bring much-needed diversity to local ecosystems.
And so the question becomes one of 'who is willing to devote such an area of land to wolves?' The answer is one somewhat of disappointment - if the people of the United Kingdom truly wants a self-sustaining population of wolves, they cannot simply hope to have them secluded into a marginal smattering of nature reserves - they need interconnectivity. A wolf's natural territory is usually one that is something of a mosaic of features - something expected from such a large territory. And if we want not just a wild wolf but many wild wolves; then this is something to be worked on. Legislature must be reviewed, much consultation will have to go on with farmers for years to come. But - as for the silver lining - if the example of Yellowstone is to go by - then there is some possibility that wolves could bring much-needed diversity to local ecosystems.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://lifelynxconnect.eu/wp-conte...irst_captive-bred_individuals_Simon_et_al.pdf they already do this with Iberian lynx is Spain to reintroduce captive-born lynx, i imagine this could be used for other lynx species in the Uk