The Unlikely Quest to Bring Wildcats Back to Britain
Sheep farmers fear their flocks will become prey. The insurance industry thinks it has an answer.
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Scientist Paul O’Donoghue and a group of conservationists are working on a plan to reintroduce the lynx, a spotted wildcat with paws like snowshoes, into Britain. They say the program could restore a once-native species and might bring a balance back to the landscape, helping to trim an overpopulation of deer. Local sheep farmers, though, worry about their livestock becoming prey.
That’s where insurance comes in. A syndicate of underwriters, working through Lloyd’s of London, is offering financial protection to the farmers so they’ll be compensated for lost sheep. “It shows that we were not just paying lip service to stakeholders, we were actually thinking of solutions to engage with them,” says O’Donoghue, who is chief scientific adviser to the Lynx UK Trust.