Reports of big cats prowling round the British countryside usually turn out to be domestic moggies who’ve had a few too many Lick-E-Lix Salmon Crunchy Treats, but this time it was actually true. Lynx have been spotted near Kingussie and two of them were caught and are now in quarantine at the Highland Wildlife Park. I have some questions.

First: where did they come from? Chances are they were released by someone who supports the reintroduction of lynx in the wild and was setting out to prove a point. But where have the animals been all this time? It is legally possible for people to keep wild animals in the UK if they have a proper licence, but it isn’t easy and lynx are never going to be inconspicuous, so I suspect it won’t be long before we know who did this.

Second question: why do we react to wild animals in the way we do? The authorities did their best to stay calm in public but there was still a hint of hysteria in some of the responses. The police issued a “do not approach” warning and even the boss of Edinburgh Zoo, David Field, said the release was “reckless to the animals, public, the community and nature”, which suggests to me some kind of risk to the public. The breathless urgency of the effort to recapture the animals also indicated some kind of imminent danger, to us and to them.

But the truth is the lynx roaming in the Highlands did not, and do not, pose any sort of risk to the public or the community. Not only are they more scared of us than we are of them – like all animals pretty much – it’s easy to forget lynx........

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