Bootleg Beavers, Feral Pigs, and DIY Lynx: Is UK Rewilding Going Off the Rails?

Rewilding used to conjure images of faraway wilderness and well-funded eco-estates. Now? It’s backyard rivers, rogue lynx, and wild boar showing up where they were never invited.

In the past few months, there’ve been two suspected lynx releases, feral pigs roaming the Cairngorms in the UK, and “beaver bombing” on English rivers—a trend that sounds cute until you realize it means smuggling semi-aquatic rodents into ecosystems that aren’t ready for them.