Sir,
While Iain Thornber (‘Big predators for the Small Isles?’, The Oban Times, February 15) is perfectly entitled to his views on rewilding, he does the debate no service by introducing his piece with references to ‘wacky characters’ and ‘quirky schemes’, describing rewilding as ‘the latest fashionable wheeze’.
Whether or not it is a conservation strategy that is applicable or appropriate to Highland Scotland is a debate worth having, but talk of ‘freaks an follies’, ‘self-delusionists’ and wacky, absentee landowners is to polarise from the outset.