I WAS very underwhelmed by the opinion piece "the missing lynx".

I don't have a strong opinion either way, but felt the dismissing of the plan out of hand does your readers a disservice.

You state that the presence of lynx will deter visitors, I would like you to cite your source.

The possibility of seeing an apex predator, the osprey, brings visitors galore to the region.

The chance to see a wild herd of cattle brings people to Chillingham throughout the year.

What can possibly be the source of such certainty that wild lynx will not prove a tourist boon in a nation that has been obsessed with tales of big cats roaming Dartmoor, Bodmin and even Allendale for decades?

The proposal must be carefully considered particularly from a point of view of livestock farmers.

However, since this plan has been reported widely, locally and nationally, for over two years, I have learned that lynx generally prefer to hunt in woodland, prefer to hunt deer (of which we currently have such an overpopulation of they are considered a pest), and exist alongside livestock production on the continent with little difficulty.

Surely the Courant owes the plan some careful deliberation rather than a knee jerk dismissal.

JAMES PERCY,

Haydon Bridge.