Northumberland best place to release lynx into wild - report

Releasing just 20 lynx in Northumberland would be enough to create a healthy wild population, research has found, and most people in the area would support the practice.

- Helena Horton

Northumberland Wildlife Trust has been working to see if the wild cats, which became extinct in Britain about 1,300 years ago as a result of hunting and habitat loss, could be returned to the area.

In a paper published in the Journal of Environmental Management, modelling studies found that lynx would be able to thrive in the area.

The study found a release of 20 lynx over several years into the Kielder Forest area would, over time, create a healthy population of about 50 animals covering northwest Northumberland, the edge of Cumbria and the bordering areas of southern Scotland. The researchers said it was the only area of England and Wales with enough woodland for lynx to thrive.

Conservationists supporting the reintroduction of the lynx to the UK say it could bring many benefits, such as the hunting deer that overpopulate woodlands and eat bark off trees, which destroys them.