Two Scandinavian billionaires who own large tracts of land in remote regions of Scotland hope to reintroduce the wild lynx to their land.
Anders Holch Povlsen, 48, a $ 6 billion Danish billionaire believed to be the largest owner in the UK, with an empire of about 220,000 acres, and Lisbet Rausing, an heiress to Tetra Pak , owner of another 80,000 acres in the Scottish Highlands. funding for research aimed at reintroducing the predator, British newspaper The times reports.
The lynx was wiped out in Scotland and the rest of the UK by hunting and habitat loss about 500 years ago; however, populations survive in central and northern Europe.
The Eurasian lynx can weigh up to 27 inches in height on the shoulder and weigh about 60 pounds, making them considerably larger than the Canadian lynx and lynx seen in some U.S. regions.
They eat about five pounds of meat a day. Its purely carnivorous diet means that many sheep farmers, a powerful lobby in the region, are strongly opposed to its reintroduction. National Farmers Union Scotland strongly opposed a previous proposal to reintroduce the lynx into a forest near Lake Lomond, The times reports.
However, evidence of public support for the reintroduction of the lynx could lead regulator NatureScot to issue a license that would allow the dramatic regrowth plan. Povlsen and Rausing are funding a new one-year study that costs $ 65,000.
Proponents argue that farmers will be compensated for any livestock killed by the lynx, as is often the case in other officially managed reintroductions of locally extinct species. They also say that the lynx would help regenerate forests by preying on roe deer that gnaw on young trees, preventing them from growing. A charity that supports proposals to reintroduce the lynx said it believed there was enough habitat and prey in Scotland to support about 500 lynx.
Peter Cairns, executive director of Scotland: The Big Picture, said the study aimed to “obviate tribal leaders” from bodies such as NFU Scotland and talk to individual farmers.
He said the lynx reintroduced to the highlands would spread and end up crossing the north of England.