engleski

Eurasian lynx in the Dinaric Mountains and the southeastern Alps, and the need for population reinforcement

Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx was reintroduced to the Dinaric Mountains in 1973 to bring back an extinct autochthonous keystone species, but also to enrich the hunting grounds. The institutions involved in the reintroduction were aware of the danger of genetic isolation and warned about the importance of connectivity between the lynx populations in the Dinaric Mountains and the Western Alps for their long-term stability. Unfortunately, these populations never connected and the once thriving Dinaric population declined dramatically. Today, lynx in the Dinaric Mountains and the neighbouring south-eastern Alps are again on the brink of extinction. To prevent this, reinforcement of the population is currently taking place within an EU-funded “LIFE Lynx” project. While the main threat is indisputable – the population is highly inbred – the relative importance of the other factors causing the decline is still under debate, especially because the reintroduced lynx in the Dinaric Mountains was legally hunted for more than two decades. Here, we describe the most important historical events which enabled the lynx to recolonise Slovenia, Croatia, Northeastern Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and highlight the main management decisions that were made during the lynx population expansion. Since the hunters were the promotors of the reintroduction efforts but had also carried out all the hunting activities, we discuss also the relevance of hunting for the lynx population development in the region.

Eurasian lynx, Lynx lynx, reintroduction, LIFE Lynx

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