Hopes European elk can help to restore lost wildlife habitats

PLANS TO BRING NATURE BACK TO LIFE IN THE UK

- EMILY BEAMENT

WILD elk could be reintroduced to the region as rewilding projects to successfully restore keystone species were labelled as "crucial" to bringing nature back to life in the UK, according to conservationists.

Nature charity Rewilding Britain said that successfully reintroducing missing species could help repair natural systems and benefit wildlife, people and climate, as it announced the latest round of funding for rewilding initiatives.

The latest recipients of the charity's rewilding innovation fund, which provides up to £15,000 for schemes, includes projects to restore lost species such as beaver, European bison a close relative to the extinct bison that was once found here - and European elk.

Among the schemes receiving funding is a joint project by Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire wildlife trusts exploring reintroducing European elk, which are forest and wetland grazers which engineer their landscapes, and are naturally found in freshwater wetlands where beavers also live.

According to Rewilding Britain, rewilding is the large-scale restoration of nature to the point it can take care of itself, by bringing back habitats and natural processes and, where appropriate, reintroducing lost species such as beavers.

Back in 2021, beavers were reintroduced to Derbyshire's waterways after 400 years.

Two adults, one male, and one female were released at Willington Wetlands Nature Reserve in South Derbyshire.

Another release of beavers to the wild took place in Purbeck earlier this year after the Government gave the go-ahead for wild reintroductions.

Questions have been raised about the release of large animals following illegal releases in Scotland's Cairngorms of pigs, which were caught and culled, and four lynx, one of which died shortly after capture.