Connecting Lynx

There are those who just can't see how one thing links with another. They are unlikely to do well on BBC's Only Connect programme. I too struggle, especially when making the link relies on a detailed knowledge of popular culture.

Only Connect's title is a direct quote from E M Forster who claimed our ability and willingness to make connexions was  the measure of our humanity and continued 'we should live in fragments no longer'.

The link between deer culling by the RSPB on the Eastern Moors and the centuries old persecution of wild predators in this region should be kept alive in the minds of all who have responsibility for this land. And that beautiful animal the lynx should be the subject of our thinking. SWT wants to see the reintroduction of the lynx. Unfortunately that's not our Sheffield Wildlife Trust but the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Well you have to start somewhere.

http://www.wildlifearticles.co.uk/eurasian-lynx-reintroduction-in-the-uk/

And all may be starting sometime soon: wild lynx in an area would keep the deer alert and constantly moving, as they should be. Infinitely better than shooting and much better than all the planning and surveys and bureaucracy associated with 'management'.

http://www.lynxuk.org/

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Environment/article1528585.ece

The second link is from today's Sunday Times, unfortunately behind a paywall but it begins thus:

WILD lynx, extinct in Britain for more than 1,300 years, could be released into forests in England and Scotland in the most ambitious “rewilding” scheme ever attempted in the UK.
If the scheme is approved, these big cats, which prey mainly on deer, will be released onto three privately owned but unfenced estates, in Norfolk, Cumbria and Aberdeenshire.
The Lynx UK Trust is today launching a public consultation to gauge public reaction to the plan, after which it will lodge a formal application with Natural England and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the government agencies that oversee such releases.

The Eurasian Lynx is found in Europe so is not on the endangered species list worldwide. But the Iberian Lynx is. It's been suggested that we introduce the Iberian Lynx rather than reintroducing the Eurasian to this country to enable a population to develop. But very recent news suggests that the Iberian Lynx has been seen in parts of Spain for the first time in many years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-31819357