Should more of the UK become rewilded? BACKGROUND As reported in First News, some wildlife experts are calling for beavers to be re-introduced to the UK, 300 years after they were made extinct by hunting. A team at the University of Exeter recently monitored a pair of A beaver beavers that had been re-introduced to the Devon wild in 2011 as part of a trial. The man who ran the tests, Professor Richard Brazier, says that the beavers have improved water supplies, prevented floods and helped to reduce soil loss. The beavers, it is claimed, also help the ecosystem: in 2011, there were 11 clumps of frogspawn in the wood; this year there were 681. The frogspawn becomes food for herons and grass snakes. But farmers are not so sure of the benefits. The National Farmers Union, which represents the interests of British farmers, says that beavers that were brought back to Scotland have damaged fields and forestry. Regardless, the wild beavers living in the southern and western Highlands of Scotland are now allowed to breed and grow naturally after Scottish politicians recently gave them protected status. The idea of re-introducing animals to an environment where they once lived is known as rewilding, and it has gained a lot of attention lately. In recent years, many experts have called for the return of animals that once roamed wild in the UK. A conservation charity called The John Muir Trust has backed the return of wolves to the wild in Scotland. There have also been calls for the re-introduction of the lynx, after an absence of 1,300 years from British shores. The lynx, which have already been successfully re-introduced in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, are wild cats that feed off deer and small mammals and spend most of their time living alone inside woodland. The Lynx UK Trust, an organisation set up in 2013 to campaign for the return of the animal, wants them brought back to sites in Northumberland and Scotland. An abandoned railway where nature has taken back control So is re-introducing extinct animals a positive move that benefits the ecosystem, or a dangerous example of humans meddling in nature?
WHAT IS REWILDING? Re-introducing animals such as beavers to the wild and letting them stay there is part of a concept known as rewilding. Rewilding lets nature take control of a landscape, allowing a piece of land to return to its wild state. It reverses centuries of change by humans and allows nature to take command once more. Humans have interfered with the environment around us for as long as we have existed, whether it s by hunting wild animals, building on land or chopping down trees and draining lakes dry. With rewilding, trees are free to grow, attracting insects that attract birds and, over time, the natural ecosystem of old is restored. Supporters of rewilding argue that wild land and wildlife should be kept wild and not controlled or tamed by humans for their own needs. Various animals that once roamed free in the wild in Britain became extinct over time, including elk, reindeer and the wild horse. Much of Europe has lost animals such as bison, moose, boar, wolf, bear, lynx, wolverine and beavers. Rewilding fans believe that by returning certain animals to the UK and not getting involved in how nature develops over time, we will be benefiting the wider environment and encouraging natural processes that were destroyed by human behaviour. The elk is now extinct in Britain ECOSYSTEM The system of relationships and interactions between one or more living organisms and their environment; for example, a pond and its plants, fish, insects, birds and mammals. Ecosystem engineers Supporters of rewilding believe that creatures such as wolves and beavers are essential ecosystem engineers that can have a huge impact on restoring environments to their wild state. Beavers dams, burrows and ditches, and the branches they drag into the water, create habitats for several other species. The beaver busily building a dam Beavers dams also slow rivers down, reducing soil erosion (the wearing away of the top layer of soil) and improving water quality. A finished beaver dam
REWILDING CONTENDERS THE WOLF The extinction of wolves in Britain came about as a direct result of human interference. They were made extinct by hunting, with members of the royal family often leading hunting parties. In 1563, Queen Mary led a party of 2,000 Highlanders on a hunt that resulted in the deaths of five wolves and 360 deer. THE BEAVER THE LYNX Lynx are medium-sized wild cats found in the Northern Hemisphere that tend to stay in forest areas and are secretive, solitary creatures, rarely hunting in groups. The Eurasian lynx, the largest of the four species, was forced out of most of Western Europe by habitat destruction and hunting. The Eurasian lynx was Britain s largest wild cat species for over 10,000 years, but the last one disappeared around the year 700 AD. Their disappearance was entirely down to human behaviour. In 2014, beavers were spotted in the wild in England for the first time in up to 500 years. Three adult European beavers were filmed eating and playing on the River Otter in east Devon. European beavers were very common in the UK centuries ago, but were eventually hunted to extinction by the 16th century in England and Wales for their warm fur, meat, medicine value, and even to make perfume. All the beavers in England and Wales in recent times have been kept in captivity. Scotland is a different story, as they have been returned to the wild there in special schemes. Beavers are described as keystone species, which means that they have a large impact on the wildlife around them. European beavers build small dams and can make a big change to their environment by altering the flow of rivers with all the twigs and branches they pull into the water.
THE DEVON BEAVER TRIAL opinion A dam built by beavers The public is currently paying people to build leaky dams to keep storm waters in the uplands. The beavers can do it free of charge and even build their own homes. They are busy as beavers. It s a no-brainer. Early results from the University of Exeter tests show that a pair of Professor Richard Brazier, University of Exeter. beavers that were introduced into the wild six years ago created 13 ponds on a 180-metre stretch of stream. These ponds managed to trap 16 tonnes of carbon and one tonne of nitrogen, which is a fertiliser that can damage water supplies. The water entering the beaver area was filtered clean of soil and fertilisers by the dams built by the beavers. This meant that drinking water wasn t polluted and rivers downstream weren t clogged up. Professor Brazier said: Farmers should be happy that beavers are solving some of the problems that intensive farming creates. RE-INTRODUCING BEAVERS WORLDWIDE Beavers have been introduced to 24 other European countries since 1924. In 2009, 11 beavers from Norway were released into the Argyll Forest in Scotland. A small number of beavers also escaped from a wildlife park in Perthshire, Scotland and set up home in the River Tay, a salmon river. The River Tay beaver family was going to be captured by Scottish authorities, despite them not apparently causing any harm to the surrounding environment or fish stocks. The government changed its mind and let the beavers stay. These two returns to the Scottish wild came after an unsuccessful attempt to re-introduce beavers in 2005. Back then, ministers cancelled the scheme after protests from farmers, fishermen and landowners who argued that the beavers would damage salmon and trout rivers, and create floods in farmland and fields by building dams. Fast forward 12 years, and beavers now have protected status in Scotland. Things are changing! BENEFITS OF BEAVERS In his book Feral, environmental journalist George Monbiot lists a number of examples of how beavers can help the wider environment: In Wyoming, USA, streams in which beavers live contain 75 times as many water birds as streams that have no beavers. In Sweden and Poland, where beavers are allowed to live in the wild, trout are larger in ponds where beavers live than in ponds where they do not. Young salmon grow faster and are in better condition in places where beavers make their dams. Through their tree felling and clearing of spaces, beavers create nooks and crannies for lots of other creatures, such as otters, frogs and reptiles.
REWILDING IN AMERICA The wolves free in the park Perhaps the best example of a successful re-integration of an extinct animal into the wild is the wolves of Yellowstone National Park in the USA. The animals were released into the park in 1995, some 70 years after they had become extinct. So what happened next? Once settled, the wolves kept the deer away, which meant that trees could grow freely and not be chomped on by the deer. The trees on the riverbanks in the park grew in height by five times as much as before the wolves re-introduction. The shade produced by the trees cooled the water and also provided cover for fish and other animals. The trees also attracted birds, increasing the population of songbirds, yellow warblers and song sparrows, among others. So in other words, the re-introduction of wolves had a hugely positive impact on the environment and natural ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park. The wolves being brought into the park in 1995 opinion Wolves, lynx and other magnificent missing species would revitalise our living systems and enrich our lives. Chris Packham, TV presenter and naturalist. PRESSURES OF PROGRESS Is rewilding a step forward, or a step backward for humans? The vast areas of nature that have been altered by humans have, in many cases, been used to provide people with food, homes and transportation. Areas that hundreds or thousands of years ago were wild are now taken up by cities and towns, airports and ports, art galleries and concert halls. Is this just human progress, or should we feel guilty about what we have done to the environment that surrounds us and that we keep building on? Every person has a right to a home and food, but does wildlife also have rights a right to simply exist without human interference?
WHOSE PLANET IS IT ANYWAY? Environmentalists argue that humans should not behave as if they own the planet. They say that we share the Earth with tens of millions of species, all of whom have the right to live freely in their own environment. So perhaps it is logical, then, that humans shouldn t interfere with wildlife by damaging wild lands for our own gain. The building of a new railway might provide fast transport links for people on their way to work, but is it justified if it ruins animals habitats and destroys ancient trees or rivers? WORTH THE MONEY? Rewilding can be an expensive business. First of all the animals need to be brought over to the UK and then they probably need to be carefully monitored to ensure they are not damaging livestock or rare animals. This would not be cheap, possibly costing hundreds of thousands of pounds to co-ordinate. Critics point out that the Eurasian lynx, for example, is not a rare species in need of protection around the world, and so the money would be better used helping an endangered species. Alternatively, money and resources might be better spent on boosting numbers of endangered birds, such as the capercaillie, of which there are only 1,200 left. Supporters of reintroducing the lynx say that tourism will boost the economy of the areas they are in. Ecotourism is a term used for tourism based around visiting ecological sites, such as stunning nature or wildlife. Should this It isn t just wildlife that is at risk from human interference in wild areas. For example, although many of the world s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that 1.6 billion people rely on the benefits that forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter. We may not be able to undo many of the developments of the last few hundred years, but is rewilding a way humans can directly benefit nature by allowing it to return to its purely wild state? FORESTS OR FOOD? The croplands of Earth land on which farmers grow crops for food cover approximately 15 million square km (5.8 million square miles). These croplands were almost all forests once, but were cleared to make way for farmers. At least 2 million square km of forests have been cleared for cattle grazing lands but the figure could be much higher. There has been a population explosion in the past 200 years, and more than 7 billion people now live on Earth. So these croplands and grazing lands are vital to provide food for much of the world s population. Should wild land remain wild land, or is it right that governments and businesses have made forests into places that support food for human consumption? If we were to rewild croplands and grazing lands today, some people around the world could starve. be turned back into this?
YES, MORE OF THE UK SHOULD BECOME REWILDED NO, REWILDING IS NOT THE ANSWER Why don t we focus on saving the threatened tiger? 1. It s time to undo the damage we ve done Humans have had a devastating impact on so many species and forests. It is high time we reversed some of that damage by restoring species that we have made extinct through our own selfish behaviour. 2. There are many benefits for the ecosystem Beavers, wolves, lynx and other animals that could be returned to the wild offer great benefits for the wider environment. They do more good than harm, such as cleaning up water and providing habitats for other species. 3. Let nature get on with it Rather than constantly building on nature or damaging ecosystems, rewilding encourages us to trust wildlife to survive by itself without any human interference. 1. It s too late While it s tragic that animals have become extinct, we have gone too far now to begin the process of rewilding. The world has moved on, and we cannot sacrifice large pieces of land for the reintroduction of extinct animals. We have to take care of ourselves and make sure there is enough farm land to feed all of the human population. 2. It s more human interference Rewilding is actually yet another example of humans interfering in nature. By bringing back extinct animals we are playing an active role in altering nature. 3. We have to take care of living animals Instead of trying to bring back long-dead species, we should be focused on protecting the animals that are alive. Let s do more to stop current species from going extinct, rather than working to re-introduce extinct ones.
Are humans the most important species on the planet? If so, why, and if not, why not? Is it our right to interfere with nature, if it means people will be given a safe place to live and food to eat? Can you think of things other than rewilding that we can do to help the environment? Should animals such as wolves and beavers be returned to the wild to help restore ecosystems? Is rewilding just another example of human interference? Humans hunted beavers to extinction. Is it our duty to now re-introduce them to the wild? Should all animals that became extinct in the UK due to human behaviour be re-introduced? What are the positive aspects to rewilding? What are the negative aspects to rewilding?