The imagination of conservationists, ecologists and landowners is increasingly wild. Native mammals including elk, moose, beaver and wild horse could be reintroduced under proposals to replace around 800,000 hectares of British farmland with wilderness nature reserves. Animals would freely roam between large conservation areas – from Essex marshes to the remote Knoydart peninsula in Scotland – linked by ecological corridors.
This comes after the Scottish Executive considered and rejected a Scottish Natural Heritage-backed pilot scheme to reintroduce beavers, while a private landowner at Allandale in the north of Scotland is poised to go ahead with his plans to introduce tagged wolves, lynx and other native animals within electrified fencing.
The re-wilding movement is gathering pace, in part prompted by an EU habitats directive which requires member states to consider the reintroduction of native species that have become extinct as a result of human actions. Emotional......
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