Understanding more about the Eurasian Lynx and its behaviour towards people in other communities is key for continuing discussions around the potential reintroduction of the species, according to Dr David Hetherington.

At a talk held by the Paisley Natural History Society last week, ecologist and author David Hetherington expressed his aim of helping to improve public awareness and knowledge of the Eurasian Lynx amid the divisive discussions which are continuing around the country.

David said: “It’s important to understand how the lynx lives.

“The key thing is how they relate to people. Humans have had a relationship with them for a very long time and hunted them for thousands of years for their fur. However, by the 19th century the prevailing attitude across Europe was to wipe them out because we weren’t prepared to live with them and their predation.”

By the middle of the 20th century, efforts were being made across Europe to conserve the lynx and in some areas they were actively reintroduced.

Deer management

With the numbers of Eurasian Lynx having been on the rise since the 1970s, David said they are no longer restricted to remote areas and can live in close proximity to people.

In particular, the lynx are living in areas with a much greater density of people than there are in the Scottish highlands.

“A lynx will kill around one roe deer a week so they can have an impact on deer populations and could have a useful role to play where roe have a costly impact on forestry and farming,” said David.

Lynx prefer to live and hunt in woodland areas where they can ambush their prey and so they will focus on hunting woodland deer.

Lynx will also kill foxes and studies from Scandinavia showed that the return of lynx caused a decline in foxes in some areas, which in turn, led to increases in the populations of Mountain Hares, Black Grouse and Capercaillie, which are all generally left alone by lynx.

Tourism

Large carnivores are increasingly bringing tourism to many countries for activities including bear and wolf watching or photography. However, due to the lynx’s solitary and reclusive lifestyle, David believes lynx watching is not a viable economic activity.

However, there is considerable scope for using the lynx as a branding icon. David came across a national park and visitor centre in Germany that had a vast amount of lynx marketing material and merchandise, but staff admitted they didn’t think there were actually any wild lynx present.

“Visitors were very inspired by all the lynx branding, and I was about to be outraged until I remembered that we have the Loch Ness Monster in the Highlands,” said David.

Relationship between lynx and livestock

“There is scope for an issue with livestock. Sheep is likely to be the biggest issue in Scotland,” said David.

“But we have to be very careful when making comparisons with other countries as there is massive variation in the relationship between sheep and lynx.”

The traditional shepherding style in parts of Romania which uses livestock guard dogs, ensures that lynx will not bother sheep flocks as they will not go near the dogs.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is Norway which David describes is the worst-case scenario between farmers and the lynx.

“They are spending up to €3m each year compensating farmers who have lost sheep,” said David.

“It’s €37,000 in Sweden which is Europe’s second-worst scenario. So there’s a huge gap between them and Norway.”

David highlights that as Norwegian farmers graze their sheep amongst woodland they are putting them at risk in the lynx’s favoured habitat.

In areas where roe deer populations rose to more than four/km², sheep killings tended not to happen. In addition with Scotland’s more typical grazing of sheep flocks in the open, David believes that Scotland’s much higher deer population would help ensure that levels of losses were nothing like those seen in Norway.

However, with more farmers being encouraged to plant trees on their land this is something that might require consideration.

David considers it is also worth noting that Norway’s compensation scheme for farmers does not insist on verification of sheep carcases and that 97% of claims were not verified and scientists believe many of the deaths could be attributed to other predators such as wolves and bears.

Lynx and other threatened species

“We are quite rightly worried about the Scottish Wildcat and Capercaillie and it is possible that lynx could kill either species,” said David.

Referring to a 10-year study in Switzerland which tracked 29 individual lynx, David discussed that of the 617 prey killed (most were deer, as expected) one wildcat was found to be killed as well as one capercaillie. However, the lynx had also killed 37 foxes, which are known not only to compete with wildcats for the same food, but to prey on capercaillie chicks.

Next steps

As the lynx continues to be a contentious topic around the UK, David recognises the concerns and potential conflicts. He said: “Advocates of lynx need to listen to and address the concerns of those who work the land.

“Experience from other countries shows that it’s possible to co-exist with lynx in busy human landscapes with productive farming, forestry, hunting and tourism but there does need to be a respectful dialogue.

“For me I think the growing national discussion needs reliable information about the species, but given its long absence and shy nature, it’s an animal that most of us are very unfamiliar with.

“So I hope I can help by providing balanced, factual information about the lynx and how it interacts with people.”