Bringing wildlife back from the dead

I do believe in reintroductions, however in the case of predators such as the lynx, wolves and bears, I do not. As much as I would love to see them in Scotland for my own personal satisfaction, the truth is they would be persecuted by man. I also believe Scotland is too small a country for them. Yes, they used to be here but the population has grown so much that I feel there just wouldn't be enough natural habitat for them as we are an expanding population. After all, the majority of the Caledonian Forest is all but gone. They wouldn't have much of a habitat.

I'm all for it, provided there is still a suitable place for the animal in the eco-system of the 21st Century UK. The lynx would be a suitable candidate for reintroduction in my opinion, as it is probably the least impacting of the three extinct large carnivores, being more secretive and less likely to prey on livestock. Wolves and bears could only really work in reserve areas of highland scotland, but even then there would be the issue of whether the former in paticular would go after sheep rather than it's proposed task of controlling deer, and how the populations would be sustained within a relativley small area.

I think its great that the white tailed sea eagle has been reintroduced in Scotland and I hope the red squirrel dosn't dissappear in this country altogether. I've realised by watching springwatch that we have a great variety of wildlife in Britain and its nice to see animals and birds make a comeback if they are endangered. I like listening to the sounds birds make and sometimes wish they'd introduce the loon. I'd probably get booood for saying so as its not a native bird of this Country and lives in North America/Canada

It is generaly a good Idea to reintraduce species back to these shores yet as the coment form yesterday say's our Island with its ever over growing population is no place for the wolf lynx or bear.

i think its good to reintroduce some species even the lynx, but i dont want to come face to face with a wolf or bear whilst on a stroll through the wood. I would like to see the return of red squirrels i know the grey is larger and carry something that can cause death to the red , its a shame they can not come up with a genetic answer to this, great show this year by the way

Ithink only wolves and lynx should reintroduced, maybe bears, but only black bears

Lambo2010: If bears were to be reintroduced, it could only be brown bears as black bears have never been native to the UK or even Europe. Black bears can also be just as aggresive as browns if that is what is concerning you to say that.

i think the reason justwandering and purplelavander drew a line between the lynx and the wolf is because in a way they have misunderstood them the same way people did in the past when we killed them.

the wolf will normally steer clear of humans and human activity and will only go near if food is scarce and their diet doesn't only consist of deer, so therefore it would take a while before they would ever come near humans.

nikki: I respect wolves greatly, and know well that wolves steer clear of humans: As far as I know, there's been no fatal wolf attack on humans in Europe in the last couple of centuries. The concern actually comes from the fact that wolves are more likely to take livestock like sheep when they realise how much easier they are to kill than deer, which has been a problem in other parts of the world where they have been reintroduced, and it would be tough to find economic ways of controlling this. The other factor is space, as a wolf pack requires huge territories in order to have a reliable source of prey. Yes the Scottish Highlands are large and remote, but how long would it be till the populations grow and can no longer self-sustain?

In this country we have lost the habit of hunting, and the economy is now estimated to loose 20 million a year from car impacts with deer. We have at least 5 large populations of deer that have been imported. Some such as fallow deer have been here for 1000 years imported by the normans, but these are some of the worst when it comes to damaging trees. Then there are muntjacks from china and water deer, sika deer from india. We have also accidental reintroduced large numbers of boar.



The populations of wolves and lynx and bears would be controlled naturally by the abundance of food (deer rabbit etc). There would be a quick reduction in road collisions because of the 'fear factor' which just a few wolves would create. But it is ridiculous to say that the highlands would end up with a population of predators it could not contain: in all natural environments the number of predators and prey move up and down until they reach a sensible balance. The predators do not increase non-stop (except perhaps humans).



As to worries about bears attacking people (and for that matter wolves and lynx) we are talking about European bears (so far smaller than grizzlys, and no black bears) and European wolves. In Romania, where there are still several thousand of each of these animals only bears are seen regularly. Wolves are seen very rarely, and lynx almost never Wolves are highly intelligent and know humans are dangerous so usually keep hidden.



It would be fantastic for the British ecosystem, which currently has nothing to control numbers of the large herbivores. Furthermore it is only due to the channel that we get to decide, we have too many herbivores and without the sea, wolves would have returned of their own accord

This summer the first 30 of a three-year, 90 birds re-introduction of red kites took place in Cumbria. Already one has been found shot dead. The same has happened with other re-introduced birds.



More education needs to be done first - how harrowing it is to read about, and see the pictures - so what it must be like for the groups actually involved in these projects.



Just imagine what would happen if predatory mammals were re-introduced.

I wholeheartedly support all moves to creating a wilder britain. For me the move is an uncontraversial one. I tend to find a lot of the british fear to the reintroduction of species that are supposed to be living here more than a little wimpy. Is great britain truly so fearful of animals that hundreds of other nations manage to live with perfectly successfully?



Wolves, bear, beavers, lynx, birds of prey, lets have em all back, and keep them that way forever. Its us that need to get a little less domesticated.