Domestic Livestock and Rewilding: Are They Mutually Exclusive?

Abstract

Human influence extends across the globe, from the tallest mountains to the deep bottom of the oceans. There is a growing call for nature to be protected from the negative impacts of human activity (particularly intensive agriculture); so-called “land sparing”. A relatively new approach is “rewilding”, defined as the restoration of self-sustaining and complex ecosystems, with interlinked ecological processes that promote and support one another while minimising or gradually reducing human intervention. The key theoretical basis of rewilding is to return ecosystems to a “natural” or “self-willed” state with trophic complexity, dispersal (and connectivity) and stochastic disturbance in place. However, this is constrained by context-specific factors whereby it may not be possible to restore the native species that formed part of the trophic structure of the ecosystem if they are extinct (e.g., mammoths, Mammuthus spp., aurochs, Bos primigenius); and, populations/communities of native herbivores/predators may not be able to survive or be acceptable to the public in small scale rewilding projects close to areas of high human density. Therefore, the restoration of natural trophic complexity and disturbance regimes within rewilding projects requires careful consideration if the broader conservation needs of society are to be met. In some circumstances, managers will require a more flexible deliberate approach to intervening in rewilding projects using the range of tools in their toolbox (e.g., controlled burning regimes; using domestic livestock to replicate the impacts of extinct herbivore species), even if this is only in the early stages of the rewilding process. If this approach is adopted, then larger areas can be given over to conservation, because of the potential broader benefits to society from these spaces and the engagement of farmers in practises that are closer to their traditions. We provide examples, primarily European, where domestic and semi-domestic livestock are used by managers as part of their rewilding toolbox. Here managers have looked at the broader phenotype of livestock species as to their suitability in different rewilding systems. We assess whether there are ways of using livestock in these systems for conservation, economic (e.g., branded or certified livestock products) and cultural gains.

Rewilding Lite: Using Traditional Domestic Livestock to Achieve Rewilding Outcomes

“…Too much of either, for too long, is likely to drive ecosystem state changes that may be undesirable. The case of population overshoot of "rewilded" herbivores at Oostvaardersplassen (OVP) in the Netherlands is a prime example of an ecosystem where herbivores, without top-down pressure overgrazed and then starved [21,22]. The main challenge for an appropriate re-instigation of the drivers of stochastic disturbance, dispersal, and trophic complexity in rewilded ecosystems is finding out which of these specific drivers, and their intensity, are needed for a particular ecosystem to be effectively rewilded.…”

“…How then do we achieve the best for rewilding, unguided, self-organising ecosystems, but avoid undesirable state changes? Where predation by natural predators is absent, OVP demonstrates that it is likely that we will have no choice but to intervene, and to mimic such predation through off-take of herbivores, in all but the largest and most remote settings [22]. This is fundamental to Rewilding Lite-because this means it should be possible to harvest (including through culling or management hunting of "game" animals) and sell meat derived from such management, which provides an economic basis for landowners to convert to rewilding [22].…”

“…Where predation by natural predators is absent, OVP demonstrates that it is likely that we will have no choice but to intervene, and to mimic such predation through off-take of herbivores, in all but the largest and most remote settings [22]. This is fundamental to Rewilding Lite-because this means it should be possible to harvest (including through culling or management hunting of "game" animals) and sell meat derived from such management, which provides an economic basis for landowners to convert to rewilding [22]. Central to such an approach would be domestic herbivores that can handle lower levels of husbandry and have meat that has economic value.…”

“…The key distinguishing feature is that wildlife-friendly farming (and similar concepts such as High Nature Value farming and conservation grazing) is still focused on production (albeit with biodiversity benefits), whereas Rewilding Lite focusses on delivering wildness, with a co-benefit of meat products (from domestic livestock and game) that can be sold to support the management approach, and mimic top-down (that is, predation) processes [35]. Further, in the former, domestic livestock are still husbanded whereas with Rewilding Lite, husbandry is minimal, and animals are "self-willed", that is, free mate choice, able to form "natural" social structures, and determine their own spatial movements [22]. We contend that Rewilding Lite could be an alternative to more interventionist wildlife-friendly farming (Figure 1).…”

“…Much has been made of the Heck cattle, Bos taurus, which were bred to phenotypically resemble the extinct aurochs, Bos primigenius, that roamed Europe until 400 years ago [54], and are depicted in the Neolithic cave paintings in Southern Europe [54]. Heck cattle are the poster child of "de-extinction", however, despite their superficial similarity to the auroch they have issues with respect to management (for example, Oostvaardersplassen see below) [21,22]. Here the attempt to create an unmanaged wild population of Heck cattle, in a reclaimed polder in the Netherlands, ended unsuccessfully, and with considerable loss of public support, when the animals started dying in large numbers over winter because of starvation [21].…”