Ministers to open formal consultation on returning lynx to Kielder forest

The government will launch a formal 16-week consultation next month on whether to license the release of Eurasian lynx into Kielder forest, Defra confirmed on Sunday, the first time a British administration has put the return of a large carnivore to a public vote of any kind.

The announcement follows a feasibility study by Natural England, Forestry England and the University of Cumbria that concluded the 650 sq km of Kielder and the surrounding Border forests could support between 25 and 40 lynx, feeding chiefly on roe deer, of which the area has an estimated 12,000. The study put the likely number of sheep killed each year at between four and 20, based on records from Switzerland and Germany.

Lynx were hunted to extinction in Britain about 1,300 years ago. An unlicensed release of four animals in the Cairngorms in January 2025, which ended with the capture of all four and the death of one, hardened opposition among farmers and prompted ministers to say that any return would have to be “by the front door”.

“Kielder is the only place in England where you could do this,” said Dr Sam Weatherall, who led the ecological modelling. “It is the right size, it has the deer, it has almost no roads, and the nearest village is 12 miles from the core. Whether people want it is a different question, and that is what the consultation is for.”

The National Sheep Association said it would campaign against the proposal. Its northern region chair, Gillian Routledge, who farms 900 Cheviot ewes near Bellingham, said the study’s predation figures were drawn from countries with different farming systems. “Swiss sheep are shut in at night with a shepherd and a dog,” she said. “Mine are on 2,000 acres of open hill. A lynx does not read feasibility studies.”

The proposal includes a compensation scheme paying 120% of market value for confirmed kills, funded by Defra, and a commitment to recapture any animal that repeatedly takes livestock. Supporters say the forest’s deer population is damaging regenerating woodland and costs Forestry England about £800,000 a year in culling.

Public opinion in the area is divided. A survey of 2,100 residents of Northumberland carried out for the study found 61% in favour, 24% opposed and the rest undecided, but among those describing themselves as farmers the figures were almost reversed. Kielder’s visitor economy, worth about £22m a year, has lobbied in favour; the Kielder Water and Forest Park development trust estimated that lynx would add 50,000 visits a year.

If the consultation supports the plan, Natural England would consider a licence application in 2027 and the first animals, likely to come from Slovakia or Poland, could be released in 2028. The Scottish government, which has its own feasibility work under way for the Cairngorms, said it would “watch the English process with interest”.