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.
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