The rewilding of the UK, with long-disappeared animals, continues a pace with the plan to release a small group of bison into woodland near Canterbury (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/12/missing-lynx-how-rewilding-britain-could-restore-its-natural-balance). The European bison has not been seen in these parts for about 6000 years. The intention is to import 1 male and 2-3 females from either the Netherlands or Poland and to allow them to roam and breed freely. In other locations, such introductions have increased the diversity of trees (at the moment the pro[posed location is something of a monoculture of pines), with consequent benefits to local insect and bird life. There might be some problems with the introductions as a) the bison would be pretty inbred, b) the carrying capacity of the environment is likely to be rapidly exceeded and c) there might well be damaging encounters between humans and these animals. I am not against rewilding but it should be carried out with care. 6000 years is a long time and the question must arise of how far back in time should one go in attempts to return our fauna to its original state?
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