Is Scotland ready for the return of the lynx?

A FINDHORN-BASED conservation charity is a partner in a study being launched this month to gather views on reintroducing Eurasian lynx to the Highlands.

Trees for Life has linked up with fellow charities SCOTLAND: The Big Picture and the Vincent Wildlife Trust to run the impartial Lynx to Scotland consultation, which will initially focus on the Cairngorms and Argyll, two areas identified as satisfying the biological requirements of lynx.

The charities say returning the shy and elusive animal is less about science and more about people’s willingness to live alongside a species that’s become forgotten on these shores.

Ecological research has shown that extensive areas of Scotland could support lynx. The solitary woodland hunters are rarely glimpsed and attacks on humans are virtually unknown.

Lynx are now expanding in range and numbers across mainland Europe as hunting laws are enforced and public attitudes to large predators soften.

Peter Cairns, executive director of SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, said: "With a global biodiversity crisis, we have a responsibility to have open and constructive conversations around restoring key native species to the Scottish landscape – and science shows that apex predators like lynx play a vital ecological role in maintaining healthy living systems."

Trees for Life chief executive Steve Micklewright said: "Scotland has more woodland deer than any other European country, and their relentless browsing often prevents the expansion and healthy regeneration of our natural woodlands. By preying on roe deer, lynx would restore ecological processes that have been missing for centuries, and provide a free and efficient deer management service."

And Jenny MacPherson, science and research programme manager with the Vincent Wildlife Trust, which will lead the study, said: "Reintroducing lynx would inevitably bring challenges.

"Lynx to Scotland will actively include stakeholders representing the full range of perspectives in order to produce meaningful conclusions about the level of support or tolerance for lynx, and therefore the likely success of any future reintroduction."

The Eurasian lynx is native to Britain but was driven to extinction between 500 to 1000 years ago through hunting and habitat loss.

Lynx to Scotland will run until February next year and is not associated with any other previous or current initiatives to restore lynx to Britain.

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