WILD lynx, extinct in Britain for more than 1,300 years, could be released into forests in England and Scotland in the most ambitious “rewilding” scheme ever attempted in the UK.

If the scheme is approved, these big cats, which prey mainly on deer, will be released onto three privately owned but unfenced estates, in Norfolk, Cumbria and Aberdeenshire.

The Lynx UK Trust is today launching a public consultation to gauge public reaction to the plan, after which it will lodge a formal application with Natural England and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the government agencies that oversee such releases.

“The lynx is a magical animal that last roamed Great Britain [at least] 1,300 years ago,” said Paul O’Donoghue, a science adviser to the trust. “It is