> I don't really care about wild mammals in Europe outside of their rise being a signal that other things are doing better. OK, I am sympathetic to the suspici

> I don't really care about wild mammals in Europe outside of their rise being a signal that other things are doing better. OK, I am sympathetic to the suspicion that reintroductions of European mammals might just be a highly-visible gesture aimed at our own enjoyment of "nature", rather than fixing of conserving the fundamentals. But plenty of people do value nature for the sake of nature - so there's just a values difference there. But attention-grabbing species do make progress visible, and visible indicators of system health are very useful. Larger animals and apex predators can also have larger impacts on an ecosystem, both positive and negative. For example, it is often argued that the reintroduction of wolves to Scotland would reduce the artificially high population of red deer, which in turn would help the recovery of forests and the rich ecosystem they support.