this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2024
27 points (96.6% liked)

Casual UK

2132 readers
1 users here now

Casual UK

A casual place for banter and anything that doesn't fit in anywhere else.

Have chat and a natter. Talk about anything and everything.

Keep it casual.

Rules

Other communities:

Here:

Elsewhere:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
tkc
 

What do you think? It would essentially help to keep the fox population under control and add a bit of excitement to our hiking and biking trails.

top 4 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Emperor 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Eventually, yes. They'd help manage the deer population which is out of control in some areas. I'd even not rule out reintroducing bears, but they'd be a slight danger to people so that may have to be more tightly controlled.

However, reintroducing once native species will have to be gradual. The government now seem to be taking steps to make the release of beavers better planned and that could lead to the release of lynx and bison in some areas. If we do bring wolves back a compensation scheme would have to be in place for farmers losing their stock.

[–] HumanPenguin 10 points 3 days ago

Given, the brown bear was the traditional UK bear, pre-Roman times.

It is rather hard to imagine them in modern day UK. The population living in areas they are introduced, would def need to be trained and prepared.

I cannot see that happening due to lack of support. Wolves we know as historical fairy tale villains. But in reality they avoid humans where they are still native. Brown bears have more fight than flight when taken by surprise. And don't tend to have the nervousness to avoid the interactions themselves. Hence, why travelling noisily is recommended in areas they reside.

Pretty sure everyone knows the bells on shoes joke.

[–] HumanPenguin 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The biggest question I have, is how those planning this plan to address non human reasons they went extinct.

Because while human effect on the environment was a huge issue. It was not alone. Wolves and bears became isolated to the UK when the European land link flooded (dogger bank) after the ice age.

Much like any isolated population, this lead to genetic diversity issues. Both wolves and bears have large area needs for population diversity. Their territorial nature means groups need large areas. So diversity needs population mixing across those areas.

Back in the 1990 Scotland tried to introduce the wolf. To discover, lack of mixing lead to a high concentration of males vs females. Forcing them to cull the population. Expanding the project nationally may help. But would require safe passage from one territory to all others. And still lead to diversity issues as happened in the past. Bears are much more complicated. As the brown bear is the natural historical resident of the UK. And unlike wolves that avoid human contact due to nerves. Brown bears are much more likely to resort to aggression when humanity blocks its survival goals.

Its not an impossible issue to solve. But is likely to involve consistent investment in introducing new populations. As wolves and bears tend not to buy ferry tickets and use tinder for dating across the EU borders.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 4 points 3 days ago

Sure, start with the Palace of Westminster 😉