In today’s post we’ll be taking a look at three apex predators that used to roam our lands and looking at what the potential for rewilding is like regarding these species.
The Eurasian Lynx
This magnificent medium sized cat once roamed Britain from the north coast to south coast feeding on a variety of animals including small mammals such as rabbits and larger mammals like deer, however now this highly efficient hunter is extinct in the uk. The cause of its extinction is believed to be down to it being actively hunted by humans in particularly farmers who believed the animal to be a significant danger to them and their livestock, its also thought habitat loss and competition with humans for their prey were contributors to their downfall.
Its not all doom and gloom though as The rewilding projects for lynx being reintroduced to parts of the uk are gathering more and more support not just from the public but from members of the government and some experts predict we could see the first reintroduction of wild lynx into the UK as soon as 2028, lets hope so.
the grey wolf
Like the lynx the Grey wolf once roamed the British countryside hunting the large herbivores that inhabited our woodlands however much like the lynx the Grey Wolf was hunted to extinction by humans. They were hunted for their fur and also out of fear of them killing livestock. Its thought that the last grey wolf in the uk was hunted in the 1600s however some reports say they survived deep in the Scottish wilderness until as recently as 1888.
The rewilding of the Grey Wolf is something that is supported by many environmentalists and ecologists and is being promoted my a variety of projects however is going to be much harder to achieve due to the animal still having a fairly negative public image. Farmers in particular strongly oppose the idea of rewilding the grey Wolf over fear of it attacking livestock.
The Brown Bear
The famous Brown Bear once roamed Britains countrysides with large numbers thought to have being concentrated around Yorkshire and London. It is thought that the brown Bear went extinct from the uk around 1500 years ago due to a wide range of reasons ranging from hunting to environmental pressures.
It is highly unlikely that Brown Bears will be rewilded anytime soon as it went extinct in the uk long before the lynx or wolf. Its also worth noting that their probably wouldn’t be much public support for their reintroduction due to the fact bear and human conflicts do happen and when they do it doesn’t normally end well, a recent incident in the mountains of Italy where a jogger was killed by a brown bear not too long after the country began reintroducing them certainly doesn’t help.
Summary
Overall the loss of these predators has had a detrimental effect on the British ecosystem as without any natural predators native and invasive deer species have seen there numbers skyrocket out of control. Excessive deer numbers means over grazing and damage to trees and other flora, not to mention without any predators to pick of the Ill or weak members of the herd certain diseases are becoming increasingly common and spreading faster.
The hope however is that thanks to the rewilding project and a variety of other organisations raising these issues to the people in charge we will hopefully see at least one of these amazing animals return to our lands soon.
Luv2wild 