Wildlife

Transferring the knowledge of lynx monitoring

A new report has just been released, entitled the Monitoring the status of lynx n Switzerland and Slovakia, which looks at the possibility of transferring the well-established lynx monitoring system from Switzerland to Slovakia. The bilingual publication written by Robin Rigg and Jakub Kubala is a result of a joint project of the Slovak Wildlife Society and the Swiss organisation called Kora.

The Carpathians were the source for the renewal of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) populations in central Europe. Live-capture of lynx for restitution programmes took place in Slovakia in the 1970s and 1980s. On the basis of monitoring methods applied in Switzerland by the organization KORA it has been determined that some of these populations are suffering from genetic problems as a result of inbreeding. A possible solution could be further augmentation of these populations with lynx from Slovakia. A precondition of providing animals from the source population is, however, sufficient knowledge of its current status.

The project Living with Carpathian Spirits arose as a pilot study to adapt systematic monitoring from Switzerland to conditions in the Slovak Carpathians. The project was implemented from May 2013 to February 2015 by the Slovak Wildlife Society (SWS) with partners KORA and Bojnice Zoo.

During the project an education programme was implemented for the lay public including 20 different events with a total of 12 500 participants. A teachers’ manual, mobile exhibition and information panels were prepared. In addition, we organized 8 training events for volunteers and students, within which information about the project and practical demonstrations of monitoring methods were provided.

 


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