The Dinaric-SE Alpine lynx population went extinct at the beginning of 20th century due to hunting and persecution, habitat loss and lack of prey species. It was successfully reintroduced in the 1973 by translocating animals from a Carpathian source to Slovenia. The animals then spread towards the south-east to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to Italy in the west and Austria in the north. Unfortunately, after a few decades, the population started declining again, mainly due to genetic deterioration. To save the population from another extinction and to preserve it in the long term, the LIFE Lynx project started in 2017. Eleven partners from five European countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Romania and Slovakia), coordinated by Slovenia Forest Service, joined forces with aim of introducing additional, healthy animals from another population. Up until May 2021, thirteen lynxes have been released into the wild; four in Croatia and nine in Slovenia. At least 14 lynxes will be translocated from Romania and Slovakia to Slovenia and Croatia.

The project is closely monitoring the progress of translocations with telemetry GPS/GSM collars that all translocated lynxes are wearing, photo-traps, and genetic monitoring. An important stream of the project has been involving stakeholders in the work. Active collaboration with local hunters, the project’s key stakeholders, was established in monitoring with photo-traps. Special platforms for communicating with local people, called Local consultative groups, have been launched in five areas in Slovenia and two in Croatia. To educate schoolchildren on the topic of lynx conservation, a special program Young Lynx Guardians was developed.

Further information about this case study is available here.