Elk could return to UK after 3,000 years as plan wins funding

London: Elk could roam the English countryside for the first time in 3,000 years after funding was approved to explore plans for their eventual reintr...

London: Elk could roam the English countryside for the first time in 3,000 years after funding was approved to explore plans for their eventual reintroduction into the wild.

European elk are woodland foragers and wetland grazers, helping to promote the natural regeneration of woodland and maintain open clearings. They went extinct in the UK due to overhunting and a loss of habitat.

"This exciting project is working towards the possibility of reintroducing elk into two existing beaver enclosures in Derbyshire and Nottingham," in central England, said Rachel Bennett, deputy director of Wilder Landscapes and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, which applied for the funding alongside the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

The Rewilding Britain charity approved the grant in the latest round of the Rewilding Innovation Fund, a twice-yearly fund supporting innovative rewilding efforts.

If approved, the move would bring elk and beavers together "for the first time in 3,000 years in the UK," Bennett said in a press release issued Wednesday.