Hope for Austria’s lynx

A young lynx was spotted on a camera trap in Kalkalpen National Park, Austria, last week!

Please also read: Following the lynx through Austria’s Wild heart

Lynx in Kalkalpen National Park

Lynx were reintroduced into Kalkalpen National Park several years ago, as part of a project to return the lynx to the Alps. However there were mixed results, as an illegally killed lynx was found in a freezer not far from Kalkalpen. Following this, lynx were not seen in the park for several years. This new video from the camera trap offers a glimmer of hope that the lynx has returned once more to Kalkalpen.

The area where the camera trap spotted the lynx is located on a so-called lynx trail. It is located in the border triangle of the provinces of Styria, Upper and Lower Austria. It crosses through the National Park Kalkalpen, the National Park Gesäuse, the Nature- and Geopark Eisenwurzen and the Wilderness Area Dürrenstein. The 200km long and demanding trail partialy leads through wild beech forests, which are part of Austria’s first UNESCO world heritage site.

Wizard of the Forest

The lynx is sometimes known as the ‘wizard of the forest‘, thanks to its fluffy ears and pointy beard. They are solitary animals, which hunt at night and are rarely seen by humans. Once common across Europe, the lynx was hunted to near extinction by humans for its fur. Nowadays it is slowly returning to the forests it originally inhabited centuries ago. Wilderness such as Kalkalpen WILDForest provides an important refuge for the lynx. This short clip of a lynx in Kalkalpen is a positive sign for the future of the lynx in Europe.

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