Sheep farmers say lynx reintroduction to Scotland would cause 'stress'

A series of interactive roadshows from the Missing Lynx Project are taking place in Northumberland to try and build support for a trial reintroduction of the once native species, which was pushed to extinction around 1300 years ago due to hunting and habitat loss.

Supporters of rewilding say reintroducing the species could help manage Scotland’s deer population and prevent overgrazing through the so-called “ecology of fear”.

Currently, deer have no natural predators in the UK except humans.

It’s thought that the presence of lynx may cause deer to be on the move more often due to fear of becoming prey, therefore preventing overgrazing.

But although deer make up a large portion of a lynx's diet they are also known to predate upon sheep throughout their range in Europe as well as smaller game such as hare and grouse. 

Chief executive of the NSA, Phil Stocker, said that a reintroduction of the species would negatively impact the mental health of farmers in the UK.

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“There must be practical and science-based evidence and reasoning behind any potential reintroductions of risk species and NSA would advocate for a case-by-case approach to ensure there is a robust and clear strategy to ensure unintended consequences are avoided,” he said.

“As an organisation we will engage constructively with this conversation, on the understanding that it will inform whether a formal consultation should proceed in advance of any licence application.

“As sheep farmers we will be far more directly affected than most and we have a duty and a right to express our views.

“The potential impact is wide and far reaching, including the stress placed on farmers knowing that an apex predator is in the vicinity – we know the effect that domestic dogs attacking sheep has on farmer anxiety levels and the repulsion these attacks are met with by the public.

“Why it would be OK for a sheep to be attacked by a lynx instead is irrational.”

He added that even if compensation were paid to sheep farmers in a similar way in which they receive compensation for lambs killed by white-tailed sea eagles, many would still be against the reintroduction.

“The answer is likely to be that compensation will be paid," he said. 

“We know this is not all about money and few farmers will sleep easy at night thinking their sheep might be being attacked but it’s okay because they will get a government cheque to compensate.

“We have to think carefully about how the destruction of a livestock farming sector would change the countryside, our rural communities and the ecology and nature that most farmers are already working hard to further improve.

“So many species such as the curlew, whimbrel, skylark, along with many insects and mammals are dependant on grazing animals and farming activity – it is this that has shaped our countryside over hundreds and thousands of years.”

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The association’s policy manager Emma Bradbury argued that because lynx were “flourishing” in other parts of the world there was no need to reintroduce them to the UK.

“Targets that are set must be very specific and measurable to ensure that any reintroductions are held to account and do not negatively impact although native species,” she said.

“There must also be careful forethought for our own endangered native species that could potentially be put at risk by the reintroduction of a species – for example the Eurasian Lynx – which is flourishing in other parts of the world.

“The Eurasian lynx is thought to have been extinct from the British Isles for 1,300 years due to a decrease in forest area and persecution by humans.

“The species is in the category of ‘Least Concern’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List due to its large range in Western Europe, the boreal forests of Russia, central Asia and the Tibetan plateau.”

However, Hugh Webster of rewilding charity Scotland: The Big Picture said there had to be a way for UK farmers to coexist with native predators as is done in many countries across the globe.

“We fully recognise that livestock losses can be both stressful and costly,” he said.

“However, it is also the case that coexistence with predators always demands some compromise and that managed coexistence is the norm across most of the world.

“As such, it boils down to whether we are willing to tolerate native predators, even at some potential cost, or whether we simply refuse to countenance their existence alongside our own."