This book investigates a vital and controversial question for conservation and rewilding in Britain and Ireland: could and should we learn to live with lynx, wolves and bears again? We travel back in time, around the world and into the future to explore this contested topic. The author delves deep into the human psyche, considering not only his own mixed feelings about large carnivore reintroductions but also why people have such polarised perspectives on top predators. He brings his unique combination of expertise on snow leopards - and their relationship with humans - along with his experience as a farmer to illustrate the discussion. Along the way, we meet a cast of characters from across society, including farmers, rewilders and everyone in between. It becomes clear that coexisting with large carnivores is as much about sharing landscapes with each other as it is about sharing them with wildlife. The first book to tackle this subject in detail, based on more than 50 interviews from seven countries, Living with Lynx will be of relevance to anyone with an interest in the future of nature, farming and the countryside. Personal, detailed, unflinching and engaging, it adds a great deal to this rapidly evolving debate.
Jonny Hanson is an environmental social scientist at Queen's University Belfast and an award-winning social entrepreneur who set up and managed Northern Ireland's first community-owned farm. Raised between Malawi, Africa, and Monaghan, Ireland, he has a PhD in snow leopard conservation from the University of Cambridge and is an Affiliate of the Snow Leopard Conservancy. www.jonnyhanson.com @jonnyhhanson
Acknowledgements Preface PAST 1. The Lay of the Land 2. Our Inner Landscapes 3. Where the Wild Things Aren't 4. Comeback Kids 5. Missing Links PRESENT 6. The Lynx Will Lie Down with the Lamb 7. Money Talks 8. A Deadly Game 9. Animal Spirits 10. Common Ground FUTURE 11. The Call of the Wild 12. Political Animals 13. Home Sweet Home 14. For the Love of Wisdom 15. Reconciliation Notes Index
Nuffield scholar Jonny Hanson has achieved the best analysis I have read on reintroductions in a genuinely unbiased way... Dr Hanson has established himself as an authoritative voice in Nature conservation. -- Jamie Blackett * Country Life * This is a thought-provoking book... Part memoir, part travelogue, it is also a philosophical investigation of the interactions between large carnivores and people. -- Fi Martynoga * Scottish Forestry * ...the author covers important ground, from a highly informed perspective... -- Dr Chris Gibson * BNA Bulletin * The book is bristling with ideas, observations, opinions and advice, and this is done with a certain flair... well worth buying for its breath and readability. -- D. Paddy Sleeman * The Irish Naturalists' Journal *
