A Few bits on Scottish Environmental Conservation

[Alan H]

As for lynx...I would pay good money to have a close encounter with a wild Canadian lynx. I would LOVE to see one, and they're not dangerous to people. I've never heard of a lynx attack, though I suppose if someone were a raving idiot, cornered a lynx and tried to pet it.....but then, that's just Natural Selection on Stupidity.. Now, for someone's little pug dog, if it runs away from camp and the lynx happens upon it....different story.

Actually the bobcat is a lynx, just not the spectacular Canadian cat, which is much like the Eurasian lynx.

[xman]

... a return to the land of yesteryear is nigh on impossible.

It is certainly an accomplishable goal if you accept that your wee cats and lap dogs are acceptable prey for wolves and lynx and that you, yourself, will have a much, much, much smaller terraine for roaming when bears and wolves again roam the hills of home.

That is certainly the case here in BC as I'm sure you're aware and we mostly accept that and watch our step a little more than those in more ... manicured locales, but I can't argue with you that going backward in the highlands is impossible. Regaining some glory? That should be achievable anywhere.

[ThistleDown]

Yes, I have a Scottish terrier in BC and he is well-protected from coyotes during his evening wanderings, I assure you.

The Lynx. Alan I have seen many in British Columbia. At a distance, granted, and I readily agree that they are not dangerous to humans. Generally speaking, nor are cougars, but there have been times....

And black bear? I've crossed paths with perhaps a half-dozen in the past year. Perhaps as many as 24 in the last two years. Great black pigs, they are.

But why would we want to bring them back into the Highlands? What is natural about this re-introduction after hundreds of years?

Rex

[Alan H]

Yes, I have a Scottish terrier in BC and he is well-protected from coyotes during his evening wanderings, I assure you.

The Lynx. Alan I have seen many in British Columbia. At a distance, granted, and I readily agree that they are not dangerous to humans. Generally speaking, nor are cougars, but there have been times....

And black bear? I've crossed paths with perhaps a half-dozen in the past year. Perhaps as many as 24 in the last two years. Great black pigs, they are.

But why would we want to bring them back into the Highlands? What is natural about this re-introduction after hundreds of years?

Rex

Agree'd... I'm not sure what the point is to reintroduce animals just because "they were here, once upon a time". That goes double, or triple if the local environment has changed significantly from historical norms and the resources might not be there to support a viable population. Bears need a lot of territory. Does Scotland have enough to support of population of a couple thousand bears? I don't know, you would have a better idea. Less than that is asking for disaster.

Really? Seen a lot of lynx? I am jealous!! One reason to re-introduce the Eurasian lynx is that they're in big trouble everywhere outside of Siberia. There's supposed to be a pretty big population, a couple thousand in the Carpathian mountains, but they're only there because wildlife there is managed by the hunting clubs, so they sort of maintain a population so they can sell licenses. Everywhere else, all the other sub-populations of the Eurasian lynx, outside of Siberia are tiny. There's a Macedonian subspecies of lynx, amazingly. How many are left? maybe 100?

So I could see the logic of reintroducing the lynx to give the species another foothold. Problem is, they will probably compete with the wildcat for food, and the wildcat really doesn't need any more pressure.

Anyway, better, probably to conserve what is left, and rebuild it as best as possible. It would be a tragedy to lose the Scottish Wildcat. Bears? There are a LOT of bears roaming around!

[Alan H]

BTW, Thistledown, I don't know where you live in BC, but if you see that many bears and you see lynx, I think I'd like it there!

[kid icarus]

i was actually trying to get a scottish wildcat kilt pin made in time for my wedding, but the cost was RIDICULOUS (over 1,000 pounds). i'm glad to see that people are stepping up and taking notice of this fantastic animal. one thing i have often wondered about though, is the lack of representation of the cat in stone carvings or stories or anything old. i mean if they are native to scotland, and as bad @ss as reports say, you would think the picts or whomever would have used them more in folk tales etc. like kelpies.

and i love that the royal dornoch golf club uses the wildcat in their logo.

[Jock Scot]

If I typed for a week I would only scratch the surface of this huge topic. Whilst in principal I have little criticism of the RSPB and other conservation bodies and there is no doubting their good intentions, however some of their actions, misuse of their their undoubted political clout and pursuit of personal opinions and agendas do grate somewhat. To be fair there are entrenched positions on the other side of the argument too, but as time goes by there is plenty of common ground that has been identified between the two camps to work with. And they do.

Why introduce roe and red deer?We have them in their thousands and in many ways they are part of the problem, with there being too many! Introduce wild boar? We have had them here for years, as have the wild goat! Protect Badgers? They are protected that is true, but they are not scarce in the UK and are, the only protected species in the UK that are not scarce in any way. They are protected to stop dubious human activities connected to badgers. In fact badger numbers are growing alarmingly in places.(In another life, I spent 7 years studying badgers for the UK Government trying to understand the badgers' connection with Bovine TB).

On the whole I think that re- introducing species is not a good idea and as Rex so rightly says, it is best we try to look after what we have. Whilst trying to sort out the other man made UK wildlife disasters such as the introduction of the grey squirrel, American crayfish, Japanese knot-weed, Giant Hog-weed etc, etc..

Just some thing that has come to mind whilst typing this piece. The reason I was late on this thread is that I was in Inverness on business and on the 50 mile,or so, drive home I saw the so say rare otter, the so say rare Osprey, the so say rare pine martin, the so say rare(!) roe deer, the so say rare(!) red deer, the so say rare black cock, the so say rare golden eagle, the so say rare white tailed sea eagle, the so say rare black throated diver, the so say rare peregrine falcon, the so say rare red kite all happily going about life and three so say scarce badgers dead on the road, presumably killed by the car! Some times, people just want to open their damned eyes and actualy see what is about them, before paying too much attention these do gooders who start pontificating!

[Lallans]

Not that it matters much from this distance, but I am of two minds on these reintroduction issues. On the one hand, I remember how bemused I was 20-30 years ago when I read that the red fox was Britain's largest remaining carnivore, but on the other hand I have since become aware that while it's great to have large carnivores living in your environment, it's not so great when the carnivores start attacking and eating you. And it's a growing fact that Canadian carnivores are tending to lose the fear of man that they had developed in the days when people would open fire on them on sight and are now exploring our availability as a prey species. This is most notable in the eastern coyote population, from which incidents. esp involving smaller women and children, are becoming quite common, but also with black bears in fringe population areas. What is really noticable is the reaction from city populations to such incidents- often people fall all over themselves defending the rights of coyotes, for instance to attack people (and this BTW is not 'normal' coyote behaviour) and express no support for the rights of the rural human populations not to be killed and eaten. I can't of course say what would happen in Scotland but large dangerous animals are typically wide ranging and are certain to bump up against the population there on a frequent basis. If the stated projects go forward, the results will be worth watching. But if resident there, I would lay in a supply of big sticks, if they are still legal in Scotland.

[auld argonian]

Riffing on brother Canuck's thoughts, it's not just the presence of the animals...it's the expansion of people into the animals' traditional habitat. Even here in Illinois it's like: look at the cute deer in the Forest Preserve and then it's the g*ddamm deer that jumped out in front of my car while I was driving down 159th Street! I can't tell you how many times I've overheard people on my commuter trains that are going on to those stops near the end of the line that used to be rural and are now suburban complain about the deer eating their precious plantings and the racoons going through their garbage. C'mon, people...wise up. My animal rehab friends get sucked into this all the time. We actually had a coyote find it's way into the soft drink cooler in a fast food shop in DOWNTOWN CHICAGO...the theory being that it came along either one of the riverbanks or along the commuter railway tracks. So many people want the "charm" of living out in the "country" but aren't prepared for it.

The theory that we can somehow restore the "balance of nature" at this point requires some serious re-thinking. Too many people, too much sprawl.

One of my favorite State Parks up in Minnesota has a turtle-watch going on to help get the turtles across the highway without their getting turned into road pizzas. The turtles were there before the highway so they don't understand that they're going to get squooshed if they try to cross it.

The give and take of this wildlife re-introduction business is incredible.

Best

AA

[Alan H]

Jock, "Dubious human activities connected to badgers"....this sound intriguing and , well....probably disgusting. Badger fights?

I'm intrigue'd to know that you saw all that on one single drive back to your home, Jock. So the truth about some species, at least is somewhere between the alarm bells sounding ultimate destruction, and those who shrug and don't care. Actually I would be surprised if Osprey were endangered. They're relatively hardy, can hunt over all sorts of open water and are pretty tolerant of human presence. After all, I see them all the time on Puget Sound, and watched one take a fish out of the sound not 50 feet from my kayak, last summer. I would assume the Scottish osprey are much the same.

Introducing roe and red deer. Yeah, what on earth is the point? In fact, how can you "re-introduce" them, when they're all over the place? (or so I understand).

Seriously, you have boar around your land? I wonder if the primary question about re-introducing boar is further south, rather than the highlands. Here in California the wild pig population is positively booming. Hog/Boar, and there's lots of interbreeding between the native wild boar, introduced (and aggressive European boar) and escaped pigs .... is the #2 hunted species, right behind white-tailed deer. Despite 3,000 + boar being taken in California last year, the population is doing just fine, probably something like 30,000+. Hunting is NOT...NOT the enemy of all species!

Just curious, Jock, have you ever seen a wildcat?

You saw a pine martin? I'm flabbergasted. We have them in the Sierra Nevada, different sub-species but basically a very similar animal and while they are not "rare" they are very secretive and in 30 years of backpacking up in the mountains, I've seen three.

I think this *does it*. I am going for an extended hike in the Cairgorms when I get over there. If the place is crawling with animals like this, I want to SEE them.