Rewilding Scotland and return of lynx and wolf in spotlight in Edinburgh

Eurasian lynx © Peter Cairns www.northshots.com

Visions of a rewilded Scotland – from restored forests to the return of predators such as the lynx and wolf – was in the spotlight on Monday 6th October at a topical lecture featuring acclaimed writer George Monbiot and award-winning conservationist Alan Watson Featherstone of Trees for Life, at the University of Edinburgh’s George Square Lecture Theatre.

With enthusiasm for rewilding – the large-scale restoration of damaged natural ecosystems – spreading quickly in the UK, the Rewilding the World event highlighted the significant benefits that this could bring to Scotland, together with a discussion on its global and ethical implications.

George Monbiot said: “Rewilding offers us a big chance to reverse destruction of the natural world. Letting trees return to bare and barren uplands, allowing the seabed to recover from trawling, and bringing back missing species would help hundreds of species that might otherwise struggle to survive – while rekindling wonder and enchantment that often seems missing in modern-day Britain.”

Alan Watson Featherstone, Trees for Life’s Executive Director, said: “Rewilding offers an exciting vision of hope, through the positive and practical work of renewing and revitalising ecosystems. In the Highlands we

Norwegian animal rights activists take Norway's wolf issue to Strasbourg

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NOAH - For Animal Rights has this week sent a complaint to the secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats - also called the Bern convention, regarding Norway's management of wolves. The purpose is to defend the animals' right to live within Norwegian borders.

The consequence of the current management is that the wolves in Norway are unable to get out of the critical situation in which they now are. The policy is clearly not made to protect but to minimize the number of individuals of a critically threatened species.

Only in the last few weeks have we seen new

Crying Wolf. The Canadian Tar Sands disaster.

I'm disgusted by the Canadian Government and other interested parties involved with the Tar Sands Industry in Alberta.

Caribou and Wolves have co-existed for generations and now the Caribou populations are being reduced by habitat destruction due to oil extraction. Suddenly the wolf is the reason, presumably by over predation, when the bulk of its diet is Deer.

They are conveniently ignoring the real reasons for the problem and using it as an excuse to cull wolf populations by shooting, poisoning and trapping; not to mention all the other issues like pollution and the effects on local human populations.

Then they have the cheek to call the oil industry ethical and saturate the public with misinformation.
Do they think we are all stupid!