The National Sheep Association (NSA) has expressed concern over the proposed reintroduction of lynxes to Scotland, highlighting the potential consequences for livestock and livestock farmers.
The trade association for UK sheep farmers has echoed the sentiment of the National Farmers’ Union of Scotland (NFUS), which called for the Scottish government to make a clear statement rejecting reintroduction proposals after the Lynx to Scotland event in Holyrood last week.
The event called on the Scottish government to rectify lynx extinction in Scotland by a managed reintroduction to make the country’s natural world “richer and stronger”.
But the NSA has warned that diverse farmland habitats, the people that manage those environments and the livestock found amongst them would be threatened by this, when they should be protected.
The NSA is also concerned that the release of lynxes could “severely damage the biodiversity of existing habitats and severely impact animal welfare and sheep farmers’ livelihoods”.
NSA Scottish region coordinator, Grace Reid, said NSA members across the UK, especially in Scotland, have been at the “sharp end” of species reintroductions “from poor consultation processes, illegal releases, no management strategies, and no mitigation, exit or recognition of the impacts to farming businesses and livelihoods”.
“We are increasingly concerned around the contradictions which could arise in government policy,” she said.
Reid said animal welfare and safety concerns are at the forefront of every Scottish sheep farmers mind in the midst of these discussions around lynx reintroduction.
“The argument that lynx will only feed on deer is not acceptable,” she said.
“There is no doubt sheep will be an easy target for predation and it is a major concern for those who farm in Scotland.
“Evidence has shown that some European sheep flocks continue to suffer disproportionately great losses due to lynx predation.
“Those in favour of a reintroduction argue the UK has fallen behind in terms of species diversity but there is a history of greater land use and land use change in Scotland than Europe has seen and therefore comparisons cannot be made between the UK and Europe due to the vast land scale and landscape differences.”
