Poll: Should the Lynx be reintroduced to Britain?

Sankari · 27 Apr 2015 at 13:56

robfosters said:
to help cull the deer population.

No. We already have aristocrats and Scots for that.

XeNoN89 · 27 Apr 2015 at 13:57

Sounds good to me!

balky12 · 27 Apr 2015 at 13:59

Then can we have them as pets?

/signed

Crazy cat man.

Diddums · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:03

Dammit. I was expecting an interesting thread about helicopters.

Instead I find a thread about cats.

Screw you internet!

Craterloads · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:03

According to some posters we will need to reintroduce white people sooner or later, so choose carefully.

Lima · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:03

Judgeneo said:
Can't we just eat the deer to keep the population under control? I'm all for lower price venison in shops.

This!

You hardly ever get decent cuts of venison in the shops/ supermarkets and the rubbish little cuts they do provide cost a fortune. Venison is super tasty and very nutritious so it would be nice to be able to buy it more often if the high deer population is that much of an issue.

Efour · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:04

No.

Just shoot them and create more jobs while at it.

413x · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:06

I wonder if this will have the same effect on women as the adverts :-P

if so.. I'm in!

But yeah I'd be happy to see it here

mattyfez · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:15

Wolves were reintroduced to yellowstone with great success, it's stopped the elk or deer doing so much damage to trees, which in turn had nock on positive effects for the wider eco system. It also keeps the deer population healthy belive it or not, as they tend to eat the slower weaker animals.
Apex predators are a key part of an ecosystem.

Zethor · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:17

Yes, the more wildlife diversity, the better.

Freefaller · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:20

Amp34 said:
I think most people that shoot deer eat it themselves or give it to friends. At least that's what the ones I know that shoot deer do. Venison is tasty!

I've been deer hunting before - and I agree Venison is one of my favourite meats

Spacedeck · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:23

Don't want to lead this OT but can I just ask one question while on the subject of animals? What is the whole meaning of survival of the fittest? It's something which always gets brought up when people go hunting or are talking about hunting. Not simply just this country, it's around the world.

I can understand it to a degree, harming things which are unable to fight back to protect themselves. What about the bigger animals? So say someone goes hunting and faces a larger animal. In this encounter, the animal wins and sadly this results in a loss of human life. But because it is a human affected, we suddenly go out with all guns and pitchforks to hunt down this animal? Why, if this is simply just survival of the fittest? Little harsh isn't it? It's just a natural instinct for the animal.

ElliorR · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:24

I'd love to see the lynx reintroduced as well as the wolf.

Zefan · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:24

Spacedeck said:
we suddenly go out with all guns and pitchforks to hunt down this animal? Why, if this is simply just survival of the fittest? Little harsh isn't it? It's just a natural instinct for the animal.

Is your life a Disney movie?

Yaayuh! · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:30

There's a few further points that i'm concerned about, detailed here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31813207

The numbers of deer killed by lynx in European studies seem insufficient to reduce deer populations to the point that they would allow tree generation.

Benefits in Scotland may be minimal because the main culprit preventing regeneration is red deer, whereas the lynx usually catch the smaller roe deer.

They also sometimes eat grouse and presumably pheasants, which will bring them into conflict with landowners even if the actual losses are fairly small.

And as i said earlier about affecting the ecosystem:

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds will also be unhappy if lynx eat the last 1,300 surviving capercaillies, the largest species of grouse in Scotland.

It seems more like "We want lynx back" than "we need to cull deer to protect forests".

Why not get some bidding going on for license/rights to hunt for food/selling and use the money to plant trees/expand the woodland.

Efour · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:32

Rossi~ said:
There's a few further points that i'm concerned about, detailed here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31813207

And as i said earlier about affecting the ecosystem:

Exactly its an ill thought out, "romantic" idea, cos every loves cats .....

cheesyboy · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:37

Freefaller said:
Good question - I don't know why they don't. Maybe less demand for it? But I imagine that the amount of deer that need to be culled would take far too much resource - why not just bring back an animal that used to do it anyway? Let nature be nature.

Deer meat isn't wasted - it pretty much all gets eaten. A lot of it does, though, get exported, as we just don't eat enough of it in the UK.

fez · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:41

Yes of course because they are freaking awesome.

NMBlack · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:44

Tauren said:
why not re-introduce bears and wolves too while we're at it

There have already been re-introductions of wolves in the UK, though they are all small packs on private (fenced) land. Incidentally, wild boar has also been re-introduced in a similar manner, though not on the same land as the wolves. We haven't got bears yet.

Tauren said:
but seriously, it might help cull the chav population

Anything that achieves this (with the possible exception of introducing cane toads) should be welcomed

Freefaller · 27 Apr 2015 at 14:48

cheesyboy said:
Deer meat isn't wasted - it pretty much all gets eaten. A lot of it does, though, get exported, as we just don't eat enough of it in the UK.

I will personally try and increase the UK venison consumption!