I live in America in the state of Michigan and we have Lynx. I have been all over this state and not once have I heard of them attacking livestock. That's a ridiculous idea.
The problem is that lynxes aren't apex predators, their mesopredators and might need controlling of their own numbers. Wolves are the apex predator of Europe and keep the numbers of all other animals in check, including themselves, exept the bear, which scavenges of fo wolf kills.
@5tonyvvvv : One can only hope people will start being responsible. We'd all be doing a lot better especially if racists would stop inbreeding, and realize they too are a *part* of nature, not the end result or the epitome as they foolishly believe.
@@5tonyvvvv over population is a capitalist myth. We have more than enough resources to feed, drink water, house and provide medical care to everyone. We grow enough food to feed 8 billion people but instead it is given to livestock. The reason overpopulation was invented was to deter people away from the understanding that capitalism has to constantly and excessively produce to turn a profit instead of being sustainable. We throw out tonnes of food per year that is still good to eat but not given to anyone because it won't turn a profit so it is instead, thrown out. We have more than enough medical supplies but this is withheld from the populace because it won't turn a profit. We can easily live sustainably, but profiting takes precedence over it.
Great stuff. Quite unbelievable that our Northumbrian farmer should be worried about a few Lynx returning to the nearby Kielder forest. I am sure compensation arrangements will keep him happy for any minimal losses.
California has bobcats (our version of Lynx) I have seen about 5 in the wild in my lifetime. Never been a problem to people or animals unlike our coyotes .
The British farming sector is already incredibly fragile and propped up by subsidies, so even the loss of one animal can have massive impacts. Furthermore, the animal that is killed by the lynx is not the only one affected. Farmers argue that the stress of being chased or startled by a lynx means pregnant sheep can miscarriage and thus affect their business. I'm not entirely certain of the credibility of these claims though. Compensation schemes have been proposed, for example Lloyds of London offered to insure and compensate for any sheep lost as a result of lynx kills during the lynx reintroduction proposal in kielder forest. Instead, I think a better course of action would be to prevent lynx kills as much as possible through more secure pastures and shepherd species such as llamas as well as compensation schemes.
@@sheaz7553 there are breeds of guard dogs that keep predators like lynx and wolves at a distance. saves a lot of money on fences. the predators will usually just leave and go find something easier to hunt, if there are a couple dogs chasing them around and barking loudly.
Those who want the lynx rewilded should compensate the farmers by paying higher taxes by compensating them directly from their own earnings. If they cannot, let the lynx be shot and their assets seized and sold to compensate the farmers and those who are hired to shoot the lynx. Not one farmer will have any issues with such a program and everyone can be happy. The Cambridge educated dunce can have his lynx running wild and he can compensate everyone for their losses caused by his wild lynx experiment. This is what is called putting your money where your mouth is. Those who want something should pay for it themselves and not expect others to pay for it.
That would be an excellent idea i think. Sea eagles are killing lambs in the Isle of Skye where i live. Unless there is some form of compensation. Farmers and crofters will deal with them illegally due to desperation and frustration.
I was big on canoeing and wild camping in the60s. I had two sightings of wildcat when there ! Far from any habitation, one on a very remote rocky shoreline. I have never forgotten the thrill of it ! I knew they were rare, and I tried to convince myself they must be ordinary moggies ! But miles from any human homes ! And moving fast in one case. Miles away from anywhere ! I felt very fortunate then. Looking back I know I was. I still love wild places and challenging trips !
I like that they show the skeptical farmer. So much of any good cause is combating misinformation from people who legitimately think they know better than you do and aren't monsters, but can be pretty dismissive and disrespectful. The skill to keep looking at them and smiling and trying to talk like a friend, the skill to keep the right facts on the tip of your tongue when you so profoundly disaggree with them -- that deserves admiration. And we need to understand what fuels the resistance and misinformation.
The fate of the Scottish wildcat breaks my heart. They are an incredibly beautiful and unique species. It's our duty to save them from extinction. These committed guys and girls are heroes. However, unless we can save the wildcat then there's little point in attempting to reintroduce the Lynx. Priorities first.
Yeah, these people are not going about this the correct way, if they really want to save the cats, this is not the answer. They are just harming the other cats, without really helping the wildcats.
Mainland Britain used to be called the emerald isle cause it was covered in trees and meadows. now most of the forrests have gone to make way for housing. even most of the farmland has been turned into housing. Sherwood forrest used to go from London to Newcastle and from the north sea coast over to the Irish sea. Now its tiny. Most of that was destroyed by the Romans as the celts hid thier armies in the forests.
I saw a wildcat in Blairgowrie in 1986. It screeched at my cousin and i we got back to the caravans and nobody would believe us. Later the owner of the farm asked us to describe it and confirmed there was a cat over on the western slope and lived on the rabbits and squirrels that feed on the berries and strawberries we picked. Scotland is the most beautiful place. Best holiday ever could havr stayed there for ever
My Grandmother grew up in Newtonmore, Scotland in the 1930’s and she said she would see them if she was lucky in the summer when they came down from Glen to catch rabbits. She hasn’t seen one since the 1970’s. She always looks out for it in the morning and it breaks my heart that she will probably never see one again. She’s 89 as of 2022
there is plenty of lynx all over the UK already. they have been here thousands of years along with puma's and panthers. they r native to the UK. most think they were hunted to extinction like wolves and bears but they survived. the big cats control other wild animals mainly deer from over population and they also control their own population by killing the young if their is not even food for them in the territory they have. there has been a lot more attacks on humans by domestic dogs than wild big cats. big cats usualy stay away from humans as much as possible which is why they dont get seen very often. there is evidence that shows there is pumas and panthers living in london but they have never attacked anyone and have not been seen. but the tracks, footprints and other tell tell signs have been seen. Its the fear mongering famers who dont want the big cats around as they think all their live stock will be killed. More chance of a dog killing them than a big cat. Big cats only kill for food and only what they need to survive while dogs kill for fun and dont usualy eat what they kill. Some sheep and calfs have been killed by Big cats but not the lynx as they tend to go for rabbits and other small animals rather than big animals. The big cats also keep foxes under control. 1 sheep will feed a puma or panther for a week. But they only go after sheep if their natural prey deer r not around for them to eat. Deer cause more problems to farmers than big cats do as they eat the grain crops. but u dont see farmers saying kill the deer they r eating my crops. Bringing back wolves will be a problem as they r kown to attack people. Lions and tigers no as they do attack humans. But puma, panther and lynx they r no threat to humans. if anything they help the enviroment by kiling rodents and keeping the derr population under control. There has only been 8 reporteed attacks on humans by big cats in the last 200 years in the UK and that was only cause the humans got to close the the baby cats or cornered them so they had no option to attack to escape. even then it was just a claw rake to get away. Even domestic cats and ferral cats will attack humans if they feel threatend. The problem is not the cats but the humans fear of big cats cause of the media putting out false scaremongring stories about them and from films. Its the same with sharks. They rarely attack humans and the great white gets blamed for every shark attack even though its mostly bull and tiger sharks that attack humans but cause of films like jaws everyone belives it can only be a great white. Storks r more of a threat to humans than big cats cause they have been know to carry away human babies and eat them. Its where the myth comes from about storks delivering babies. They r not delivering them they r stealing them for food.
@@cliffbird5016 Outside of captivity Lynx are extinct in Great Britain. They have been extinct for around 1,000 years. The "pumas and panthers" are 1. Cryptids and 2. Not even native to the UK.
Gandhi stile that quote which was about people not animals and he was a pervert. I had to do a paper on him back in college and man was I surprised at what I found.
Replanting the forests and rewilding as got to be good news we have abused so much of nature in the past now its time to make amends all the best for the future.
If Paul could be less patronising and defensive when talking to farmers he will dramatically increase their buy in. Brilliant ideas, apart from the elephant, but if you look what happens to native and introduced raptors, killed by game keepers protecting game bird stocks, I would be shocked if the Lynx didn't suffer the same fate.
I'm a farmer. I share Mr. Dalton's concerns. Having read some works on rewilding, it is apparent that indeed some of the scholars involved in these projects are far too dismissive of rural issues. Those scholars who do appreciate the importance of local people's attitudes are far more likely to suggest going slowly and working in small steps.
you will find them right in the scottish borders branxton or where the battle of flodden was put a camera on any ponds in the area in particular . streams are good ive seen them there years ago . hunting mice and drinking from the streams .and one old pond in the village it goes to daily . it a wildcat not anything else . i used to watch it out the window it leaves mouse heads on the back porch regularly we had 2 cats down there and ive moved away now but you might get a chance of seeing one in that tiny village or near it . kind regards .
Humans have kill most of the " Scottish Tiger " now they are trying to save it. Typical from human kind sad but true. Hope they can save this beautiful animal and its importance for the scottish history and wildness.
I am hoping that the Scottish and English Parliaments will introduce a law to make it compulsory to chip cats (as it is already for dogs). This will enable conservationists and cat charities to identify feral, unowned, cats and neuter them to prevent hybridisation. It currently costs less than £20 to chip a cat and if you cannot afford that you could rehome a cat from the RSPCA, Cat Protection or other wildlife organisation, although if that sum is too much, I'd suggest you may not be able to keep up with the nearly £100 a year needed for flea and mite treatments and inoculations to look after a cat properly. I would encourage all wildcat lovers to write to their MPs to press for this law to be enacted.
The way to alleviate the farmer's concerns is for him to get flock guardian dogs---he probably only needs three or four. A public fund can be established to assist farmers in buying and maintaining such dogs but the moneys from such funds should only be a available for farmers who are proven to have land where lynx wolves or bears roam or who have farms adjacent to such land.
Lynx make sense. I hope the Scottish farmers can soon get on board. But elephants would have a hard time adapting to living so close to people. I have a friend in Zimbabwe who told me that elephants can create serious problems for villagers. They can be very destructive. So even for people who are pro-environment, there are conflicts. These gigantic critters would have to be carefully managed, so they would not really be in the wild.
I'm very fortunate in having a wild cat that I got in Nova Scotia,Canada. She still shows wild ways but she is also very warm and loving toward me.......
i think the biggest issue in the UK is a social one, in the UK alot of people think farms are natural, they literally have no idea what was there before, they think it is just normal to not have any wild animals here. The fact we even give farmers so much weight in conservation is absurd, i understand they have a living to make but half the time sheep farming isn't even profitable, they survive on subsidies. The human population is going to move away from meat, it has to due to how many of us there are, as you see the younger generations grow with that understanding the change will accelerate, we are ringfencing an obsolete industry. Rewilding is taking the land back to a natural healthy state, Nature is this massive seesaw that tries to maintain balance, we have the chance to proactively re-establish that balance before nature does it for us, consequences of which could be horrendous.
Thank you for posting this. I love seeing the beautiful animals and gorgeous countryside. I wish them well. What an excellent project! "Guardians of the next generation."
That there are people in the world working to restore natural order is so inspiring. ^-^ Such an important thing because as humans we have wrought mostly destruction on the planet, our very own home.
Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there. Predators are an important part of the ecosystem. An essential part of the balance of nature.
Although I agree that the saving of the Scottish Wildcat and other species may be a good idea, the scientist who had said that the Eurasian Lynx should be reintroduced was incorrect about many of his facts. The Eurasian Lynx is not completely solitary. Female Lynx gives birth to 3-6 kittens per year, which she keeps with her for at least a year. Meaning that she would be hunting with them. Also, they are powerful enough to take down a deer. If there are too many Lynx and not enough food, they may hunt sheep. Also, I found him rather naive, and rude.
i dont know why british people they scared of big cats, most of the countries in the world they have leopard in their mountain. this small cat cant even kill a big chiken.
there is wild lynx all over the UK already along with Puma's and panthers which r also native to the UK. They dont get sighted very often and the govt doesnt want us to know they r around to protect them. Those big cats have been around since Humans came to Britian. The Romans used to hunt the big cats in Britain to send to the gladiator games.
Maybe well south of Denmark? These Asian elephants won't grow shaggy coats of warm fur to last the cold winter. It may not even be expressible in their genes anymore, if it ever was. Bison would happily survive, to look at them they are fur. A nearly bald elephant? Even with the fact that by their size they can live longer in conditions that would kill a tiny animal, they still can't take below freezing temperatures for long. They'd eventually migrate in search of warmth and food, probably in the same year they were placed in the cold area. The zoo elephants where I live have nice warm paddocks they can stay in when it's really bad. the rest of the winter they huddle together for warmth. Not too mention their keepers feed them. Wild elephant raid crops when food isn't easy to get, poor farmers. How will they be compensated for lost crops when the elephants learn to stay south? Two last words, Trophy Hunters. End of rant.
Agree. There's a program that is re-introducing bison in a part of Kent, while in The Fens (Wicken Fen) they have re-introduced Water Buffalo. There's talk of re-introducing Lynx to the Cairngoorms. Wild Boar have been re-introuduced into the Forest of Dean and several other Ancient Forests (Sherwood, and Delamere). Beavers have been re-introduced in several parts of the UK (Cornwall, is one of about a half a dozen sights across the UK). Cranes have been re-introduced in Norfolk (nr The Broads), and Storks (Somerset). So there are plenty of animals that are being re-introduced in the UK. Some for the first time for about 400 years, while others for the first time in about 1000 years!.
He's absolutely right. Controlling the population is the key. I've been rescuing cats for years. The professionals know what needs to be done. First and foremost spay and neuter
I'm all for Re-wilding BUT releasing Lynx when the rabbit population has suffered significantly through RHD and RHD2 to my mind is a stupid idea. What next, Re-wilding rabbit? The Otter was reintroduced, on it's diet list was the water vole which itself was in fear of being wiped out so they started reintroducing them, now we have an otter boom and no water vole but the water vole aren't really spoken about. It seems that people only want to reintroduce apex predators because of their looks, they give little thought to reintroduce and looking after the predator's food source and that could be a big mistake.
This clarifies a comment David Barclay made about the low number of sheep hunted per lynx per year. I asked the same question as our grumpy farmer: what if there's a massive number of lynx in an area? The answer given here is "lynx are so antisocial they'll keep their own population down in an area", which I'm happy to accept! I like the confirmation that they're safe around humans too, I would risk it but I'm a crazy cat lady :D
Man the UK really makes the US look like some kind of nature preserve, imagine if bobcats were almost extinct!! Pretty much anywhere in the eastern US at least has black bears and coyotes now, I even saw a black bear in Atlanta in 2015!
Paul's attitude to captive breeding is archaic. You only need to look at the incredible success of the Iberian Lynx program to know how successful it can be.
I hope they can save the Scottish wildcat but the chances look so slim people are the biggest concern and if they were going to bring the lynx back they shouldn't tel anyone that way they would be safe from poachers I wouldn't be surprised if somebody already has let one in the wild already because a few years ago you could have leopards has pets if you had a special license why would you want an animal like that as a pet I don't know and it came illegal so few people released them into country side!
An area near Ottawa Canada was having trouble with too many porcupine. Now porcupine are non-aggressive mind your own business kind of animal, but pose the secondary threat as they chew car and truck tires to get the salt that accumulates on the tire during the winter snow removal times. They also chew hand tools because of salt from sweat. Some brilliant biologist thought let's bring the pine marten in as it is one of the few animals that will take down a porcupine and this will control the population so that was done. The pine marten wasn't really informed about his proper job and found that the local farmers' piglets, chickens and chicks, ducks and ducklings, made much easier pickings then facing off with a porcupine. So now that area has a problem with porcupine and pine Martens. The European or Eurasian lynx which they propose to bring into England is larger than the North American lynx and can actually prey on the smaller deer and it seems to me that large Lynx will not differentiate between newborn sheep, chickens Ducks piglets, which is a calorie saving catch
You know I am so freaking sick of morons saying the predators are going to go after there livestock. Here is fact if you do not decimate the predators food source they as a rule stay away from human habitats. Got a friend who lives in Minnesota here in that states. He raises and trains German shepherds to help protect his livestock...on the rare occasions he has a problem with a predators its normally one that has gotten to old to go after the deer and moose. Now one on one no a Shepard is not going to do well against healthy wolves but 5 shepherds against a old wolf or cat looking for an easy meal they do well.
I live in a state in the U.S. that has had many different predators reintroduced and thriving, including lynx. Farmers shouldn't worry until they bring the wolves in. The wolf population has exploded and they are running in big packs now, in fact some have been pushing to begin hunting and managing them. Let the Lynx in, no worries. Better have your eyes wide open before the wolves come in.
Traci Waltman: If you've got livestock, invest in a really good wolf-proof fence. It is your obligation to keep your animals (your investment) safe for market. In this day and age, you can't be hoping for wide open grazing to the exclusion of all other species. The land will no longer support this.
The Eurasian Lynx is twice the size of Canada Lynx and routinely preys on deer. The Canada Lynx routinely preys on rabbits (Snowshoe Hare). Quite different animals really.
Fantastic work being done in re-wilding, although the elephant thing is just nuts. I really hope that Dr. Donaghue and his team get the lynx back where it belongs in our country, and that there are other farmers who treat Wikipedia with the contempt that it deserves. Besides many farmers in Europe have large dogs that stay out with the sheep and give warning of predators then see them off. No lynx will risk injury from one of these guardians and will not come near the flock. It's stupid and greedy humans that is the main obstacle, and I am not talking about the farmers who farm for the passion of it. Good luck to all of you. I wish you rainbows.
@@bulletproofkam7931 Hello! Could you please take your stereotypes and shitty spelling from this comment section? That's literally the nicest thing I can say, to an individual like you. Thanks in advance!
I would think that besides neurtering domestic cats, the best way to bring back the numbers of Scottish Wild Cats would be to breed them in captivity and release them back into the woods.
Virgil Pine I think that would be reasonable.If they had large enclosures ,I don't see why that is a problem.There are already projects like this for red squirrels.
I agree that captive breeding with a lot of species is do-able, but as was explained in the example of the wild cat released, it came back thin and bewildered. The point being it came back, and also it must have struggled to find food in the wild. It amazes me that Americans can live alongside wolves, coyotes, bears, wild cats etc but here in the UK, if one mention of a predatory species to be brought back is mentioned, all the farmers are up in arms. This mentality I fear will take a long time to dispel, but all the same it is hypocrisy of the highest order for us to then go around the world telling other countries that they should learn to live with tigers, lions etc even if they are killing they're essential food source for survival in most cases. I would love to see Lynx, wild cats, bears and wolves return to Scotland and in my case Mid Wales, but food for all these key species is just not there anymore, sad though that is. I really fear for wildlife in the UK. It is such a shame that Scotland CAN ONLY BE a viable option for key species to return to.
I seen a video about some people training some captive born wildcats to hunt. (I don't remember what kind)then released them onto a huge Military airport in Africa if memory serves. I found it interesting. Looked to me like they were on their way to success as well.They believed it was gonna be a mutually beneficial relationship. I really do believe that the best way to preserve wildlife if to show concrete benefits to people. Kinda like how hunters became probably the first conservationist. If you enjoy hunting and or eating wild game you don't want it to disappear.In that video I seen about them wild cats the concrete benefit they believed that the Military would receive is much fewer airplane wrecks caused by birds.
@@derianjones1730 Well, then they did a poor job preparing the cats for the wild. In the German state of Bavaria captive bred wild cats were released and successfully started a new population.
Paul is too hardcore. Its last chance saloon for the cat and hed rather gamble at the risk of extinction that his neutering program works and the 40 or so cats breed in the wild than to collect some to for breeding programs in zoos to ensure they dont go extinct. Even if they neuter all the stray cats, wont the wildcats still shag them anyway and thus be no more likely to mate with other wildcats?
Thank you Journeyman TV and especially to these dedicated scientists. All the guys have to do to get mr snarky on board, is offer to reimburse him for any lambs lost. I love mrs crazy cat lady, too. :)
They have a feral cat problem, of a particular sort, in Scotland as well. So that it is not just the New World. You'll get people to allow their cats to be neutered because it is not the progeny of their parents with their cats and not the parents which went before them. It is simply a current given cat.
Elephants - allow farming and have reserves for ivory in Africa. It'd allow local employment and stop the threat to the species and the arrest the ever-shrinking size of tusks in the wild.
I could understand Lynx and wisent in Europe. Elephants? No. The types of habitats in Europe have drastically changed since the time elephants were present
that is utter nonsense dude. It is fair that you wont see elephants migrating to where there is lots and lots of snow, but it was not long ago that elephants as well as lions roamed Europe along with other large animals like ox and even saber tooth cats, mammoths, wooly rhinos, etc. Many of such prehistoric animals only disappeared around some 10,000 years: barely a blink in the eye of evolution. In any case, elephants are migratory and will always move where its warm, just like lions would too to hunt massive creatures.
That English sheep farmer is literally hanging on to his opinion for the sake of his own ego. Lynx were roaming the British countryside long before sheep farmers came along. In my opinion farmers need to put their sentiments to one side give the rewilding project a chance
Seems to have good intentions and all but this guy needs to work on his persuasion tactics. The farmers do have connections with their animals, they're gonna be concerned at an introduction of a possible predator. You're not gonna change any ones mind by insulting them and being confrontational; especially when on camera.
Amen.. I don't even like people having "exotic" pets. Wild animals Belong in the wild. Like people with these extremely exotic birds, it breaks my heart because when you sit and watch any birds in nature, they have a partner, they nest, they raise their young and then they migrate. I just feel keeping them in a cage denies them the chance of a mate and offspring and just being a bird. I do understand some animals get into accidents and can't live in the wild anymore but they should be in a place like a zoo where they can live out their life as close as possible to in the nature
Desertification, Deforestation, overgrazing and poaching keep these things up and ecosystems collapse and humans can’t live without our ecosystems...we’d just be living in a baron wasteland. Like so many countries are suffering from atm.
What’s unsaid is that the real concern is ground resting birds, and it’s not the rspb that are worried. Grouse shoots are some of the most powerful lobbies within the English countryside, and seemingly get away with anything. Persecution of birds of prey is rife, rarely prosecuted, and the punishments are very light if they are successfully prosecuted. They hide behind livestock concerns because 90% of the public find driven game shooting hard to defend.
wikipedia??? that farmer proved his point: money! I want nothing but money. no lynx or anything near my sheep! those are money and all that crap about doing it for love is bs. doing for money would have been and honest answer. the lynx guy is onto something but considering this was a few years back and his prediction was wild cats will be extinct in 3 years that means there are none left at the moment just because some empty head farmer didn’t feel the need to help for his children’s future. good job
If that scientist wants to bring the farmers (who potentially have alot to loose) over to his side he needs to show more respect and less arrogance. Contrary to what he claims he to is looking at things emotionally to. Both him and the Farmer are emotional. They are just on different sides of the issue. The Scientist needs to quite being so arrogant and understand that he really does need them on his side. It seemed to me that he was to busy talking over the Farmer and almost mocking him. Not good.
T Ritchie Some Farmers are just stubborn. Conservationists and Farmers in Africa have worked to save cheetahs and other predators by supplying farmers with trained Anatolian Shepherd Dogs to protect their sheep and goat herds. Conservatives want to do the same with farmers in the UK but the farmers shrug them off, even when they were offered monetary compensation.
I think the LGD thing is a good solution for a lot of places. I still think that Scientist handled it all wrong. But then again I'm used to dealing with people that don't respond well to being mocked by some arrogant sort who don't seem to care about their concerns. As for monetary compensation it will only work in the short term.If that's the way the Scientist around their are treating the Farmers its no wonder they are digging their heels in and being stubborn. In order for it to really work they need to find a way to get as many of the locals,especially the local farmers as he can on his side.Or at least willing to give it a try.
Why not introduce bear and wolf back in to the highlands. The simple answer is that the environment in Scotland has no reflexion to the Scottish environment in 200 years ago. You need to create mixed woodland in vast quantities in order to provide the animals with the environment they need to survive.
"God knows what it will end up looking like" Ahhh ... a fucking forest maybe? Sorry you've been ranching the land for 200 years but the forests were around for thousands.
I have three degrees (physics, mathematics, law), a director of Mensa many years ago (2003-2005), but I am always mystified by the supposed "intellectuals" who believe that they know it all and seek to impose on everyone else a society of their creation. They seek to impose on others their philosophy and use them as their laboratories for their social theories. Let people live free. Go buy the land yourself and do what you want with it, do not expect others to accept your lordship over them because you think you are some sort of intellectual genius. Stop using the government to shackle those you do not agree with. Human beings are not your lab rats nor are they yours for social engineering. It is these persons who if given the levers of power, would impose a reign of terror.
