There are quite a few projects going on in Scotland which are attempting to restore species that were extirpated over the past few centuries. Beavers are being

There are quite a few projects going on in Scotland which are attempting to restore species that were extirpated over the past few centuries. Beavers are being re-introduced and the waters are tested every few years to see if it is politically acceptable to try and re-introduce wolves - the red deer currently have no natural predators (apart from humans and possibly a few eagles that take fawns). Sitka deer messing up the gene pool of red deer may cast some doubt on the overall goal of this effort and it will certainly add to the cost if Red Deer are to be kept "pure". The population of Red Deer is currently unsustainable - they are fed during the winter by the large estates to maximise their numbers for shooting. Hybrids might do some damage to this aspect of the economy by dimishing the trophy value to the estates. However there might some good from this if there are culls in the areas where hybrids are occurring. It would certainly improve the areas where the original pine forest is starting to recover by reducing the grazing pressure from deer.