The Lynx UK Trust, which last month submitted an application to Natural England for a reintroduction of six Eurasian Lynx in the Kielder Forest stretching between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders has outlined plans for a sheep welfare programme.

Unveiling the plans on Friday, the Trust said its new ‘Sheep Welfare Programme’ could provide farmers with grants to boost flock health and reduce the risk of predation from lynx.

Since the Lynx UK Trust first aired plans for a reintroduction two years ago, farm industry groups have been vocal in their opposition. The National Sheep Association (NSA) in particular has stressed that the proposed reintroduction would represent a threat to sheep, and has expressed its discontentment at each stage of the process. The Trust, however, maintains that predation of livestock would be low; lynx live in forested habitat, not the bare hillsides where sheep farming takes place in the UK. The Trust assures that, on average, individual Eurasian lynx kill sheep less than once a year across almost every country they live in, rising to two or three times a year in parts of France and Austria.

Even so, the NSA has declined to engage with the Trust, and turned down the offer a place on the its advisory panel last July.

On Thursday, Steve Piper, Lynx UK Trust's chief communications advisor said, “Farmers are skeptical and I understand that; many predators cause much more damage, and science is often misrepresented to farmers and the wider general public. But we are quoting real-world examples and the studies are consistent; lynx are ambush hunters, they need forest cover to do that, and so their diet is almost all roe deer killed in the forest.

“Of course, the sheep farming sector's concerns have been rigorously recorded and submitted with the application. Their feedback has been critical [in] shaping our application to ensure local farmers get a significant benefit from a lynx trial, resulting in a sheep welfare program covering health, disease and predation, funded from lynx eco-tourism.”

Grants to improve sheep welfare, health and disease control

Lynx UK Trust maintains that the animals will be a significant draw  for eco-tourism, though the cats themselves are famously shy. The Trust plans to establish a visitor centre in Kielder acting as a hub for local tourism operators as well as collecting money from tourists to help fund the trial and provide benefits to the local community.

“Lynx are difficult animals to see,” Piper admitted, though he added, “That's part of the charisma that draws people to try; the eco-tourism potential in Kielder is certainly worth millions of pounds over a five year trial. We'll help advise interested farmers on how they can take advantage of that, but what we really want to ensure is that some of the money is going directly to helping with the biggest threats to sheep; exposure, disease and malnutrition.”

Piper said, “Sheep farming needs solutions to the problems it faces, not scaremongering,” adding, “A sheep welfare grant program funded by lynx eco-tourism can help local farmers with things like building lambing shelters, effectively delivering vaccinations and other critical early-life care, maintaining fencing to reduce road kills; basics they need to do the exceptional job everyone knows British farmers are capable of. Even a fractional improvement would mean a lot more healthy sheep and a huge reduction in financial losses.”

The Trust spokesperson said that monitoring work conducted during a lynx reintroduction trial could be used to better understand and act against predation by any species. The Trust maintains that “Monitoring the lynx population and trying to prevent predatory activity on sheep are fundamental aspects of the project design,” and has already proposed studies looking at the interactions between lynx and sheep with a view to preventing contact between the two species.

“The information we'll collect from these studies has phenomenal potential for every sheep farmer in the UK.” said the Trust’s chief scientific advisor, Dr Paul O'Donoghue, “There are some really exciting ideas from other countries, such as guardian animals like llamas. We've seen these successfully used in the Scottish Highlands keeping off foxes, and in an American study they reduced sheep kills from dogs and coyotes by 66%; half of those farms saw predation stop entirely.

“Those are astounding results, I'm amazed we don't already see them widely in use; we might be able to reduce all sheep predation by two thirds, just by providing farmers with llamas, paid for by the lynx.”

Compensation above market value

Nevertheless, the NSA has not been swayed by the Trust’s latest proposals. On Friday, an NSA spokesperson said, “The National Sheep Association (NSA) does not accept the promise that lynx would add to eco-tourism, boosting the local economy in Kielder, nor does it accept a compensation system as a justification for a lynx introduction to go ahead.

“Six lynx, as proposed by Lynx UK Trust, may not devastate our industry but they could have a devastating impact on a small number of individual farmers and of course once the genie is out of the bottle it's difficult to see it being put back in again. Aside from the challenges of guaranteeing indefinite financial support for the additional costs to sheep farmers, a compensation scheme would be complicated and controversial. NSA believes justifying the reintroduction of lynx by having a compensation system in place undermines the efforts that farmers go to in order to protect their flocks and maintain high welfare standards, as strived for by the farmer, required by legislation and demanded by the consumer.”

The sheep Association’s chief executive has previously suggested that farmers would be free to shoot lynx if they believe the cats are causing distress to their sheep. 

Undeterred, Lynx UK Trust’s Steve Piper said, “If the lynx do kill any sheep then compensation must be paid, no question. The NSA unfortunately refused an invitation to advise on a program, though individual farmers have talked to us about concerns like a lynx killing a valuable tup and how that could be valued or proven. We're confident it can be done; satellite tracking of the lynx will certainly prove any kills, though they tend to leave carcasses very close to kill sites anyway.

“An ongoing compensation program would be prioritised from the visitor centre income, and it's worth clarifying that Lynx populations grow very slowly, six of them cannot dramatically balloon in just five years, and the satellite tracking makes it possible to trap them all again at any point in a trial, we can always wind things back, but I really think farming is at a point where it needs to look forwards and at least consider opportunities for positive change.”

Piper continued, “The productive, profitable and progressive farming sector envisioned by the NFU cannot be found in more subsidies or the NSA grandstanding in the farming press, but it could be found in a partnership built between farming and lynx reintroduction. Farmers may not believe us, but we want this to work for them. Everything we've looked at tells us that tying the allure of the lynx to local farming in ways like these can bring incredibly positive results for the farmers, their animals and the wildlife living alongside them; and that's the lynx effect we want to see in Kielder.”

The application for a reintroduction is currently with natural England, and the official process of exploring a possible reintroduction could take months or years.