Its all about money. If its not endangered, its not worth anything. Just look at the RSPB, if a bird is endangered then they can plead to the public for cash to save it. If its not endangered, people dont give as much.
Lynx reintroduction workshop Dunfries and Galloway
- Thread starter Tulloch
- Start date
Wildcats demise was interbreeding with domestic cats plenty on that by the experts years ago, animal immigration issues from non indigenous puskins, as for lynx we apparently wiped them out with habitat loss not helping.
Definately feeling personally endangered as a lover of countryside and field sports along with others on here and elsewhere who own and use shotguns and firearms and feel we should be compensated for the stress and pain been caused, fcuke the lynx!
Having a bad day
Definately feeling personally endangered as a lover of countryside and field sports along with others on here and elsewhere who own and use shotguns and firearms and feel we should be compensated for the stress and pain been caused, fcuke the lynx!
Having a bad day
The hunting Finn
Well-Known Member
Where the roe occurs it is the main prey for the European lynx. The lynx size is optimal for foraging on roe deer, compare it for example with the lynx on the Iberian peninsula which is specialized on hare and rabbits. We actually had very low densities of lynx in Finland until our roe (and whitetail) population increased rapidly during the last decades. In those regions of Finland where we don´t have roe the lynx uses a bigger amount of small prey species, of which the hare is the most important. It might be that the predation on fox also is a bit higher in this areas (the lynx is also known to kill foxes and raccoon dogs without eating them), but that it would have a positive impact, that could be scientifically proved, on capercaillie I doubt very much. On the contrary it is also known that a lynx can have a very devastating impact on some local capercaillie lekking.
In northern Sweden rodent populations are cyclic with a top every 3-4years, fox has rodent as their normal prey, only then the rodent population are low they go over to take more grouse and hare. We has less farming than in UK so the fox population regulate it self in the normal rodent cycle. In southern Sweden rodents have an one year cycle but they have very low grouse and caper populations.
Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
Sheep are naturally a dryland animal. In the past in the UK they were an animal the dry eastern and southern parts of the UK.
It was only the Highland clearances where landowners booted their tenants off to North America to make way for sheep that they came to the wet north western parts of the UK. And they never did particularly well commercially and once we had opened up Australia and Argentina sheep production for wool went elsewhere. The lairds found it more profitable to lease / sell their lands for deer and grouse to the new wealthy of the late Victorian period.
Sheep only really survive these days in the highlands thanks to subsidies.
And now thanks to changes in Government policy, deer are now viewed as a pest and we as tax payers are spending millions on shooting them.
I can’t help feeling that reintroducing top predators - which are struggling elsewhere, that can then manage deer, rabbit, hare, beaver and other smaller predators is probably a much better use of tax payers money.
But you will need to manage top predators and occasionally need to shoot them when they get too close to urban / intensively farmed areas.
And once you have large predators they will not tolerate smaller predators such as foxes, badgers etc and hence you may actually end up with lower overall pressure from predators.
As to Capercaillie and Black Grouse populations, the biggest killer of these are deer fences, whether from flying into them, or being trapped against them by foxes etc. They seem to do pretty well in Scandanavia, Russia, Alpine areas where they are living alongside Lynx, Wolves and Bears.
It was only the Highland clearances where landowners booted their tenants off to North America to make way for sheep that they came to the wet north western parts of the UK. And they never did particularly well commercially and once we had opened up Australia and Argentina sheep production for wool went elsewhere. The lairds found it more profitable to lease / sell their lands for deer and grouse to the new wealthy of the late Victorian period.
Sheep only really survive these days in the highlands thanks to subsidies.
And now thanks to changes in Government policy, deer are now viewed as a pest and we as tax payers are spending millions on shooting them.
I can’t help feeling that reintroducing top predators - which are struggling elsewhere, that can then manage deer, rabbit, hare, beaver and other smaller predators is probably a much better use of tax payers money.
But you will need to manage top predators and occasionally need to shoot them when they get too close to urban / intensively farmed areas.
And once you have large predators they will not tolerate smaller predators such as foxes, badgers etc and hence you may actually end up with lower overall pressure from predators.
As to Capercaillie and Black Grouse populations, the biggest killer of these are deer fences, whether from flying into them, or being trapped against them by foxes etc. They seem to do pretty well in Scandanavia, Russia, Alpine areas where they are living alongside Lynx, Wolves and Bears.
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
The whole idea of lynx reintroduction shows a complete lack of imagination.
Lynx are as common as muck with circumpolar distribution. Theres loads of them out there everywhere, except the UK.
Far better to bring in a rare species that really needs the boost, I nominate these lovely creatures.
The Amur leopard.
Very rare, very limited distribution and actually in need of a bit of help.
The loss of a few bobble hatted ramblers, odd babies, dogs, sheep, horses, cattle or even unwary deer stalkers would be well worth the opportunity to interact with such a magnificent predators.
Lynx are as common as muck with circumpolar distribution. Theres loads of them out there everywhere, except the UK.
Far better to bring in a rare species that really needs the boost, I nominate these lovely creatures.
The Amur leopard.
Very rare, very limited distribution and actually in need of a bit of help.
The loss of a few bobble hatted ramblers, odd babies, dogs, sheep, horses, cattle or even unwary deer stalkers would be well worth the opportunity to interact with such a magnificent predators.
Said, I trust, with tongue very firmly in cheek?
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
Only partly.
For the life of me I can’t understand the fixation with introducing creatures that have a global distribution rivalled only by human beings and the Norwegian brown rat.
If you are going to deliberately introduce a new species,( and Lynx would be new, you haven’t had them since the last ice age ) then you should pick something that actually needs the population and distribution boost.
Leopards might be a bit extreme, but probably no worse than wolves in reality, and wolves are all the rage.
Hayduke
Well-Known Member
This is completely at odds with the WooWoo reintroduction crowd, assorted lobbyists and government policy wonks.
Critical thinking is not allowed.
Yukonmountainhunter
Well-Known Member
Wolves! You guys need wolves!
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