We might as well have been searching for ghosts. Lynx are so elusive that I knew the chances of seeing one were remote, even when walking through their domain of Norway spruce, larch and beech. But not to see even a trace was uncanny, and elevated their status in my mind as the coolest cat around.
There is currently a lot of enthusiasm for exploring how reintroductions could work in Scotland, and last September we held a conference called ‘Wild, Free and Coming Back?’ A key message to come out of the conference was the importance of learning from countries that already live alongside these animals.
Several of us who had attended the event recently joined Robin Rigg of the Slovak Wildlife Society (SWS) for a study tour in the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia. We were there to get a clearer understanding of the lives of lynx, wolves and bears, their interactions with people, and how problems are tackled
We covered a lot of ground, from urban residential areas through spectacular forests at various elevations, to lofty snowy mountain ridges 2000 metres above sea level. Slovakia has some dramatic landscapes and a huge amount of fantastic wildlife, including lynx, wolves and bears.
In Slovakia around 2,000 sheep are killed each year by wolves and bears. While the number is proportionately low (about 0.5% of all sheep), hostility and persecution can result. There are other conflicts as well, such as damage to beehives by bears, but the major issue is wolves killing sheep. Although compensation is available from the government, this does not cover lost production, so farmers can still make a financial loss.
SWS and the Wolves and Humans Foundation (WAH) have been working hard to reduce these conflicts. On one farm we visited, the farmer had lost twenty sheep in one year alone. WAH funded an electric fence of a specific design. The sheep are herded within the fence every night and so far the fence has been a success. As an incentive, farmers are allowed to trial the fence, and if satisfied they can buy it at 50% of the cost price.
While we were at the fence, we added to the protection by hanging a line with strips of cloth dangling from it. Unlikely as it sounds, this technique, known as fladry, is effective at deterring wolves. It was traditionally used as a method for hunting wolves, which were pursued and funnelled between two lines of fladry to meet their fate in nets or by the guns of hunters. For some reason these intelligent animals will not cross this fairly insubstantial barrier.
It was apparent that in areas where predators have been absent or scarce for only a matter of decades, people have problems adapting to their return. Traditional knowledge can be lost, and practices such as sleeping in close proximity to the sheep have gone into decline. The use of guard dogs was largely abandoned in Slovakia in the mid-20th century, but a 5-year SWS project provided local farmers with over 60 dogs of the local Cuvac breed and other types of guarding dogs. While there have been problems as the farmers have lost the ‘know-how’ about using these dogs effectively, on one farm where around 5 sheep were previously lost to predators per year, none had been lost since SWS provided dogs in 2001.
There are 270,000 beehives in Slovakia – an irresistible draw for bears. Again, beekeepers who have had hives damaged by bears have contacted SWS, and the problem has been easily overcome by providing electric fences.
Of the large predators, the bear is the only one that presents a significant danger to humans. The chances of attack are remote, and there have been no human fatalities in recent years in Slovakia, but there are sometimes injuries. These usually result from bears being encountered at close range and reacting in self-defence, or sometimes from becoming habituated after being fed by humans.
We spent a night in a mountain hostel at 1,740 metres. Unfortunately bears had recently been attracted by the waste food regularly deposited in the outside loo, and people had also been feeding them. We saw scratch marks on a wooden window shutter where a bear had once attempted to enter. Sadly it had lost some of its fear of humans, and after some people were injured the bear was shot.
SWS has been trialling various methods for bear-proofing bins in lay-bys and residential areas. One is based on the bins used in North American national parks, and is made of strong metal with a special catch on it. However it seemed that people weren’t readily adopting the system, and a lot of rubbish was still left around the bins. There had also been bears rummaging through bins outside a block of flats close to the forest edge. The bins here were placed inside a large cage that had bear-proof latches on the door; this has proved to be very effective.
On a broader scale, wildlife is suffering as a result of habitat fragmentation, with forest being broken up by human infrastructure such as roads. We saw a partial solution to this problem in the form of a ‘wildlife bridge’ across a motorway. This 250 metre-wide vegetated corridor had been used by a wide range of wildlife, including lynx, wolves and bears.
During our visit we saw lots of signs of predators with the help of Robin’s expert eye. There were a good number of bear prints, some of them along well-used forest rides (which looked like many parts of Scotland!). While tracking carnivores may have something of a glamorous edge to it, a good proportion of the signs we saw consisted of poo! I have never envied, but always admired, those responsible dog owners in my local park who clear up after their pet, armed with nothing more than a thin plastic bag. So I was amused to find myself doing the same with a kilogram of bear dung that needed to be put in a sealed bag for later dietary analysis (I heard disturbing stories about the contents of Robin's freezer). Robin showed us the carcass of a red deer that had been killed by wolves last winter. The remains were still crawling with various beetles, had been visited by a bear, and had no doubt supported a huge number of other life forms since the deer’s death.
So what lessons can be learned for Britain? I was already aware that Scotland does not have enough habitat for bears (although this is slowly changing), but it also struck me that public understanding of bears would need to be developed before we could co-exist with these magnificent animals. In terms of livestock however, Slovak farmers are generally more amenable to bears than they are to wolves, as they kill fewer sheep than the latter, despite being more numerous. Maybe our descendants will decide they’re ready to bring bears back – who can say?
There is enough habitat and prey for wolves in Scotland and wolf attacks on humans are extremely rare. Nevertheless, one consequence of losing the wolf is that sheep in Scotland roam freely on the hills rather than being herded. This would make them very vulnerable to wolf predation unless sheep farming changes drastically (which it could well do over the next couple of decades). It is worth noting, however, that some studies in the USA and Poland have found that only certain packs engaged in livestock predation. I don't think we're ready for wolves just yet, but still believe that they should be reintroduced at some point in the future. They would certainly help to manage our high red deer populations, by preying upon and dispersing them, thus helping suppressed woodland to regenerate.
As with my visit to Romania in 2007, I was struck by the seemingly supernatural elusiveness of the lynx. They pose no threat to humans, and there had been only negligible losses to livestock from lynx in Slovakia. It is thought that in Scotland there would be little conflict between lynx and sheep farming because the sheep are out on the open hill whereas lynx prefer to stay within the cover of trees. Research has shown that the Highlands could support a self-sustaining population of lynx, and it is even thought that a wildlife bridge across the M8 motorway could provide a link to a smaller population in the Southern Uplands.
There is a huge amount we can learn from people who live and work alongside large predators. While it may be more difficult to return a predator if it hasn’t been present in living memory, it is encouraging to see how creative thinking and a cooperative approach can help to reduce conflicts. Time will tell how this might apply to Scotland.
I would like to extend a warm ‘thank you’ to Robin Rigg of the Slovak Wildlife Society and to Richard Morley of the Wolves and Humans Foundation for organising this excellent and insightful tour.