Financier Ben Goldsmith claims Britain has a 'moral duty' to learn to live with ... trends now
The Conservative Environmental Network chair, Ben Goldsmith, says Britain's arrogance about rewilding is preventing it from reintroducing lost predators.
Financier and green campaigner, Goldsmith, 42, claims that Britons once had a moral duty to live alongside once-native animals, including wolves and lynxes, before they were forced into extinction by out ancestors.
Goldsmith asked: 'What's with this British exceptionalism that we are somehow too grand and too civislised to rewild?' during a talk at the Hay Festival, with environmentalist Isabella Tree.
'Countries which are significantly poorer and more food-insecure than we are, we expect them to look after their wolves and their lions and their jaguars and all these other charismatic species, but when it comes to Britain, no, no,no', he said.
The debate over whether to reintroduce species in Britain has started to gather pace in recent years.
Goldsmith said that Britain should 'find a way to coexist and find harmony' with wild animals, such as wolves, calling it a 'moral duty'
Beavers are returning to the UK as part of a rewilding project
For the first time in thousands of years, bison are roaming the fields of Kent, while beavers have also been seen making a resurgence in Britain's waters.
Currently assessments are being made over the feasibility of reintroducing lynx to the wilds.
Wolves on the other hand, a different story, after being eradicated in Britain during the 18th century due to concerns over sheep farming, there are no plans bring them back into the
