The return of the lost species

In early history, the lynx inhabited the large part of Europe. Extensive deforestation, rapid falls in the number of herbivorous wild animals representing the lynx main prey, and the ruthless killing of big game, were the main reason why in 1990, the lynx disappeared from most of Europe. It was only preserved in some less populated and forest-covered regions of Eastern and Southern Europe and in Scandinavia. The merciless killing of the lynx spread from the territory of today's Slovenia, where the last autochthonous lynx was killed in 1908. After 1970, the first project to repopulate the lynx emerged in Europe, but were not connected and harmonised and were not the result of any integral research project. Consequently, these repopulations in the Alps resulted in the development of two smaller and isolated lynx populations, one in the northwestern Alps (Switzerland and France) and the other in the eastern Alps (Slovenia).
The repopulation of the lynx in Slovenia, which has been carried out since 1973, was one of the first in Europe and is today considered one of the most successful projects. The work was easier due to the extensive forests that cover more than half of all Slovenia. Since 1976, the lynx in Slovenia has been on the list of rare and endangered species. According to the latest estimates, 40 to 50 animals of this species live in Slovenia today, which is almost one third of all lynxes living in the Alps. The lynx population in Slovenia is divided into two parts: the western sub-population living in the Alpine area to the west of the Jesenice-Ljubljana-Trieste motorway, and the southern sub-population to the southeast of the same motorway, in a region representing the central area of big game (besides lynx, also the brown bear and the wolf) in Slovenia.
At the start of the 90s, it was established that no Alpine country could by itself secure the long-term preservation of the lynx. International cooperation was needed. In order to bring together the efforts of individual countries to preserve the lynx, a group of scientist drawn to from all Alpine countries founded the group SCALP (Status and Conservation of the Alpine Lynx Population), which has been striving to join today's isolated habitats of the lynx in the Alps (Pan Alpine Conservation Strategy for the Lynx - PACS), which was adopted by the Council of Europe at the end of 2001. Due to its active co-operation in the group, Slovenia will probably be entrusted with preparation of Scalp's second regular conference next year.

For preparation of this text our thanks go to Cvetko Staniša, Graduate Engineer of Forestry
Forest Institute of Slovenia, OE Kočevje, Rožna ul. 39, 1330 Kočevje http://www.sigov.si/zgs/

e-mail: cvetko.stanisa@zgs.gov.si