Mammals, UK past, present and…
The past few hundred years have seen profound changes to the mammal populations of the British Isles. The loss of our large carnivores, unable to exist alongside livestock farming and the introduction of several alien species, some with devastating consequences for native wildlife. The near loss and recent recovery of some of our smaller carnivores and the catastrophic decline of the water vole and red squirrel which, without concerted action, will become extinct in the UK in the very near future. There are popular campaigns to reintroduce some of our former species and although current farming practises make the reintroduction of large carnivores unrealistic there seems to be little reason why the beaver cannot be reintroduced. The wild boar is now well established but suffers from uncontrolled hunting which keeps them concentrated in certain areas.