We need to remember that lynx aren’t simply the big pussycats that they appear to be

As our Barometer column reminded us this week, a campaign is underway  to reintroduce the Eurasian lynx – which became extinct in the UK around 1,300 years ago – to the British countryside. But is bringing back lynx to the wilds of the UK really a good idea?

Well, for starters there are many farmers and livestock owners who certainly won’t be very pleased to see them. Lynx UK – who are behind the plans – have claimed that they are willing to subsidise farmers for any loss of livestock that the lynx are responsible for. But that probably won’t put farmers’ minds at rest – especially hill farmers, whose animals would be most at risk from any newly introduced predators.

Lynx certainly do cause a certain amount of harm in countries where they already exist, although there has long been a debate about how many sheep deaths lynx actually account for. In Norway, for example, of the 1.9 million living on the hills, around 125,000 never return each year. It’s difficult to work out exactly how many of those have been killed by lynx, but it’s estimated that between 6,000 and 10,000 sheep are killed annually by the country’s 350 lynx – a total of around 20 sheep per animal, per year.

In the 13 years from 2001 to 2014, those sheep have led the Norwegian government to pay out over 200 million kroner (around £20 million) to farmers in compensation – which is a fair amount of of money. It’s certainly no wonder that farmers are unsure about their reintroduction; after all, no matter what the compensation, it’s always nicer to have a live sheep than a dead one.

Even if people like Lynx UK are willing to make up for the damage that these new animals cause, is it really worth trying to reintroduce once-extinct predators to the UK? I can understand that visually, it might be nice to see the odd beaver or even wolf in the Scottish Highlands, and that introducing larger predators  – including the lynx – would help to manage red deer populations. But it’s important to take into account the fact that not everyone will appreciate their presence in British forests.