Sheep and Bears

An interesting leader in The Times about bears in the Pyrenees. French farmers don't like them of course but how many sheep get killed by man? Now this would make the Sheffield Moors more exciting

As usual it's instructive to read the comments below. Here's one written by a reader, Andrew Holliday:

Sheep have the same catastrophic impact on the Pyrenees as they have on the uplands of the UK. They cause soil erosion and prevent the regeneration of natural woodlands. Without sheep there would be a much greater diversity of plant and animal life (google “rewilding”).
Anything that serves to reduce their numbers has my support, including the introduction of predators, although the removal of farming subsidies would be far more effective.

Others well versed in the farming and shooting industry's propaganda complain about outsiders, usually 'urban',  deciding what goes on at the expense of locals. Worth noting, I think that often the farm livestock on the Eastern Moors belong to farmers living nowhere near the land where they graze. It can be an hour's drive. One farmer on the Eastern Moors actually lives in Halifax! Yet some of us living a few minutes away and walking this land many times a week are not even considered to be worthy of the status of stakeholders!