SHARKS, snakes, spiders and tigers claim people鈥檚 lives every year, but they can鈥檛 compete with people in the killing stakes. In Britain alone, aurochs, lynxes, brown bears and beavers had all been driven to extinction by the 16th century. Roger Lovegrove takes up the story in the Tudor era, when 鈥淰ermin acts鈥� proffered financial rewards for corpses from an extensive hit list of species. The rise of the new sporting estates in the 19th century only made things worse. With recent efforts to reintroduce native species, has a new era dawned? Read Silent Fields and see what you think.
Silent Fields: The long decline of a nation鈥檚 wildlife
Oxford University Press
