EVERY SHEEP in the UK will be insured against attack by lynx if the campaign to have the predatory species reintroduced here is successful.

In yet another publicity blitz, the Lynx UK Trust this week announced an agreement with a specialist division of Lloyds of London to insure the entire UK sheep population against lynx attacks throughout the period of any trial reintroduction. It said that the cover would also extend to attacks on pets and humans – while stressing that the insurance was only possible because the risk of such attacks was judged to be very low.

“Some farmers have suggested it will be impossible to fund a compensation program, even though in reality such funds rarely cost more than €1000 a year on the continent,” said the trust's science advisor, Dr Paul O'Donoghue. “This will hopefully give them a great deal of confidence if the largest insurance market in the world is offering to cover any kind of attacks on livestock by lynx during a trial.”

The insurance was proposed by Richard Bryant, head of the Lloyds syndicate ARK Speciality, who said: "I hope this insurance cover will provide sound financial security for the trust so they will be able to generously compensate farmers if any of their sheep are injured or killed.

“Having assessed all the science and research on lynx predation, we are very confident that sheep attacks will be rare, so if our support can help make a trial reintroduction practical it's a great opportunity for us to do something really positive," said Mr Bryant.

The Lynx Trust is currently awaiting feedback from Natural England on its application to stage a trial reintroduction of lynx into the Kielder Forest region. If approved, six lynx will be reintroduced for a five year period, monitored with satellite tracking and other tools to see how they fit back into the UK ecosystem.

“The extensive cover provided by Lloyds of London is a massive game changer in our campaign to bring lynx back to the UK where they rightly belong,” added Mr O'Donoghue, “I honestly now find it very hard to see any reason why we shouldn’t get a license from Natural England; there can be no question that compensation is now affordable and we still stand by our promises for farmer's grants and anti-predation studies, we can make this work for everyone.”