Lynx and wolves have been extinct in Scotland for over 400 years. New research asks whether living without large carnivores for so long could have allowed myths and wishful thinking to become predominant in Scottish society.
Recent illegal releases of lynx and wild boar in Scotland have sparked debate and intrigue in the return of missing species as a part of a broader rewilding movement. The main reason for reintroducing missing species is the benefits they will provide for people and nature.
Missing species – love them or hate them
Beavers, for example, have a profoundly positive ecological impact through tree felling and dam building. For this reason, among others, species reintroductions are very popular with the public, with 61% of Scots supporting a legal lynx reintroduction, according to polling conducted by the Survation for the Lynx to Scotland Partnership.
But it’s also clear that reintroduced species can be a nuisance to live alongside. Beaver dam building can flood adjacent fields and potentially damage farmland, resulting in emotional and financial impacts for the farmers.
The concerns associated with the return of these large carnivores broadly pertain to livestock predation, recreational hunting, and human safety. It is perhaps for these reasons that Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney ruled out the possibility of a legal lynx reintroduction.
There are no proposals for the reintroduction of wolves but there is growing interest, evident from the convening of the UK’s first wolf conference which brought together wolf enthusiasts and rewilding experts last year.
Creating fertile ground for myths and wishful thinking
Conversations about lynx and wolves are often characterised by beefed up assumptions, cherry picked information, and contention, with people often unable to find common ground. One explanation for why debates have become so polarised could be the romantic and cynical cultural transformations of the lynx and wolf in Scottish society. This cultural transformation is driven by three factors.
- 1. Lack of scientific data: while it is clear that reintroducing lynx alone would be unlikely to significantly reduce roe deer numbers or impact in Scotland, the precise impact of their return on roe deer population and the wider environment is uncertain. Similarly, the level of sheep predation from any lynx or wolf reintroduction is uncertain since it is dependent on numerous factors, including livestock protection measures such as electric fences.
- 2. Lack of historical data: most historical records about wolves were written by powerful landowners and Christian scholars who portrayed wolves as bloodthirsty man-eating creatures. People who lived in close proximity to large carnivores, as well as those from other belief systems, may have held more diverse attitudes.
- 3. Extinction of experience: there has been an extinction of experience about what it is like – both practically and culturally – to live alongside large carnivores. This poses additional challenges for fostering coexistence between sheep farmers and large carnivores.
For example, in areas of Italy where wolves have always existed, farmers are more tolerant of livestock predation than farmers in areas where wolves became locally extinct but are now returning. In Scotland, sheep farming has evolved for over 400 years in the absence of large carnivores. This may have contributed to a system characterised by large, densely populated herds that roam unattended for long periods, and so would be more vulnerable to large carnivore predation.
The combination of these three factors may have created more fertile ground for misinformation to spread, since in the absence of more reliable sources of information, people are more susceptible to myths and wishful thinking. This may have led to the cultural transformation of the lynx and wolf in Scottish society, characterised by both romantic and cynical discourses.
Angels and demons
The romantic discourse has made overstated claims about the restorative powers of large carnivores for rural landscapes, often citing the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park despite evidence disputing claims of their ecological superpowers.
The comeback of large carnivores in Europe, widely regarded as a conservation success, has also been idyllically portrayed by this discourse, such as in the recent documentary Why Not Scotland?.
The cynical discourse portrays the reintroduction of large carnivores as an existential threat to livestock farming, recreational hunting, and by extension, rural culture. While many of these claims may be unfounded, there is often a kernel of truth within them relating to the substantial challenges that any reintroduction, particularly of wolves, would pose for traditional rural livelihoods.
For proponents of this discourse, large carnivores are intrinsically linked to rewilding, the blueprint for which, in their view, has been the illegal releases of beavers, wild boar and lynx.
Looking forward
The obvious solution to polarised debates about large carnivores and other species reintroductions may appear to be better data. However, facts alone don’t change minds. Even the availability of very good data is unlikely to convince people one way or the other, since the debate is often not about the animal itself, but what it symbolises – a deep-rooted conflict over how rural Scottish landscapes should look, what purpose they should serve, and who should control them.
Long-term processes of facilitated dialogue could help to build common ground and co-produce visions of rural landscapes, with or without large carnivores, that retain ecological ambition, respect differing values, and support multiple land uses.
Toryn Whitehead is one of the authors of A shifting baseline theory of debates over potential lynx and wolf reintroductions to Scotland, published in Ambio.
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