Will the Lynx Return to Central Italy?

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Will the Lynx Return to Central Italy?

CAT NEWS
Issue 15, Autumn 1991

by Franco Tassi*

The lynx, that mysterious and fascinating animal of the European forests, is in the process of returning to Italy. After almost disappearing from the entire European continent, and after several countries adopted measures for its reintroduction, this extraordinary cat, known in Italy as the "cervine wolf", is now gradually reappearing in the Italian Alps. More substantial human intervention, however, will be needed for its reintroduction into the Apennines.

Information about this predator and its history has been both scarce and contradictory. Scholars such as Ghigi and Toschi considered the lynx totally extinct in Italy as far back as the beginning of this century. Moreover, they excluded the possibility that it lived in the Apennine region, at least within the recent past. But there is little evidence to support these two statements.

Not only are the lynx's past history and present distribution in doubt, but the definition of its systematic position is also unclear. Attention is focused at present, however, on projects for the lynx's reintroduction, which are finally starting to take shape in Italy.

For more than half a century, zoology has officially ceased to consider the lynx among Italian fauna. But there is some doubt as to whether this means the total absence of the cat from our country. The subject has been riddled with misconceptions and become the object of irrational controversies.

Louis Lavauden, French author of the most complete monograph on the European lynx, wrote as far back as 1930: "This animal has been ignored by the populations who lived in contact with it and has left no trace of itself in the folklore of our mountain regions. Its total disappearance from our territory has been asserted with extraordinary perseverance, and the most illustrious zoologists have written genuine absurdities about the lynx".

The Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx was widespread in Europe, but it is now confined to northern and eastern regions, except for specimens reintroduced into Switzerland, France and Austria. A smaller variety, the pardel lynx Lynx pardina, adapted to the Mediterranean maquis region, exists in the Iberian peninsula. The pardel lynx used to be considered a simple subspecies, but today it is usually regarded as a full species. It was reported in the past from the Italian and Balkan peninsulas, but modern scholars think that this was a southern variety of the European lynx, with more visible spotting.

The Apennine lynx represents the remnants of the European lynx's great southern expansion in the post-glacial period. Therefore it follows that this cat penetrated along the Apennine spine during the Quaternary, together with all the flora (particularly the forests) and the fauna (including its usual prey from the northeastern areas) with which it is ecologically closely linked. Pleistocene evidence from central Italy clearly indicates the presence of the European lynx, which would thus represent the original central Apennine variety, preserved until today.

Only a few years ago, in the summer of 1978, the academic world raised objections to the possible reintroduction of the lynx in Italy, mainly stemming from the belief that there was no protected area in the Alps or the Apennines large enough for lynx. With the same reasoning one could have excluded the possibility of survival of the brown bear Ursus arctos and the Apennine wolf Canis lupus, two mammals that not only exist but are actually showing a slight increase in numbers. In any case, the lynx has successfully returned to the Alps, and there are some people prepared to maintain that it may never even have left them.

Nowadays the reappearance of the lynx in the eastern Alps is considered a fact, though there had been several sightings in Alto Adige before 1970 and a hunting magazine mentioned its existence in Carnia in 1968. Probably coming from Yugoslavia, the lynx is occasionally seen in Friuli and Venezia Giulia, and is definitely located in the Lagorai-Vanoi region of the southern Dolomites. There were documented cases of illegal shooting of lynx in 1982, 1984 and 1989.

As regards the western Alps, new and interesting information has been revealed by thorough studies carried out by Toni Mingozzi. Even though the lynx has generally been considered extinct there since 1930, reliable evidence has indicated two more recent captures, one in 1937 and one as late as 1947. A possible sighting in Valdieri in 1934 could be added. It is mentioned in the Royal Hunt Register. Mingozzi also revealed a series of sightings in Monviso between 1981 and 1986, which were backed up by observations made by Hainard on the French side of the same mountain range in 1977. Undoubtedly, since 1980, lynx sightings have increased in Italy as well, thus sustaining the hypothesis that the lynx is slowly penetrating from Switzerland. The sightings known to Mingozzi, apart from Monviso, refer to the Val d'Aosta, Val d'Ossola and Valtellina. To these we could also add a sighting made by Boris Zobel near Oulx, in Val di Susa, in the winter of 1981.

A project to reintroduce the lynx in the Gran Paradiso National Park in 1975 fell through when two male specimens were released but their female counterparts failed to arrive.

As far as the Apennines are concerned, the lynx's situation is even more uncertain, controversial and delicate. There are no biological, ecological or biogeographical barriers to its former presence in these mountains, primarily in the central-southern area. This is dramatically confirmed by a large number of historical, ichnographic, bibliographic and topological elements, some of which I have already discussed in a work published in 1971 by the Societa Italiana di Biogeografia. The lynx's presence in the Apennines has been accepted by such scholars and zoologists as Pietro Doderlein, Emilio Cornalia, Achille Costa, Oronzio Gabriele Costa, Leonardo Dorotea, Erminio Sipari and Alberto Simonetta. However it has not been proven by tangible evidence, such as skins, skulls or skeletons. This may be due to limited research or to the poor hunting and naturalist traditions of our South. Nonetheless, since 1971, I have been able to find additional evidence to support the lynx's presence in the Apennines. Some of this is of great interest and mainly unpublished, and thus earmarked for future scientific publications.

I will postpone mention of the evidence on recent sightings in Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Basilicata and Calabria between 1968 and 1990, which need different tests and research. I will limit myself to only three of the more significant pieces of information out of those which emerged after my work in 1971:

In John Murray's "A Handbook for Travellers in southern Italy" (London, 1855), the lynx, called "gattopardo" (spotted cat) by Abruzzo peasants, is mentioned as living in great numbers in the Marsican mountains.

In "Viaggio nel Regno di Napoli" (Travelling in the Kingdom of Naples) by the German writer Carlo Ulisse De Salis Marschlins (1789), an entire chapter of extraordinaary interest describes the lynx of the Apennines as an animal well known at the time and easily bred by the Tomassetti barons of Pescina.

In the manuscript of the "Fauna del Regno di Napoli" (Fauna of the Kingdom of Naples) by Oronzio Gabriele Costa in 1839, revised by Dr Eugenio Bettoni and now in the Natural History Museum in Milan, the following is written about the lynx: "After publication of the catalogue, Costa received three lynx skins. Subsequently, in a report to the Minister of the Interior, the Superintendant of Chieti declared that a female of the species had been killed in Borello, province of Lanciano."

This event is also reported by C. Lopez, who mentions it as having occurred "a little after 1845".

Finally, the presence of the lynx in the Apennines represents a typical "cryptozoological" case, which has many analogies with other similar ones (for example, the elusive mountain lion of the eastern United States Felis concolor). This does not mean it should be set aside because of the lack of tangible evidence.

Several European countries have for many years been working to bring this splendid cat back to the habitat from which it had disappeared for various reasons. During the past few months, specialists Ulrich Wotschikowsky and Gotz Kerger have reviewed various programmes, implemented between 1970 and 1990, for the reintroduction of the lynx in Europe (not taking into consideration illegal attempts, of which at least four are known, two of which failed). Nine projects have been analysed, three of which met with a high degree of success: two in Switzerland (Obwalden and Jura), and one in Yugoslavia (Slovenia). For two more projects, one in France (Alsace) and the other in Czechoslovakia (Sumava), it is still too early to attempt an evaluation of the outcome.

On the other hand, the remaining four, in Austria (Styria), Germany (Bavaria), Switzerland (Waadt) and Italy (Gran Paradiso) have not had much luck. Poor preparation of some of the vital components such as research, management, legislation, risk of damage to the zootechnical patrimony and public relations are among the various reasons for failure of these projects. But sometimes failure is also the result of the limited number of specimens released, or of the choice of habitats (often protected, at least in theory, but not large enough or too snowy).

Experts have identified two fundamental requirements for implementing any future reintroduction programme:

a natural habitat of proper dimensions, capable of sustaining a self-sufficient population.
the elimination of the causes that initially led to the extinction, most importantly deforestation and poaching.

They also recognise that, regardless of expertise and preparation, the success or failure of a repopulation programme may also depend on luck and unforseeable circumstances.

Notwithstanding the many difficulties faced, the conservationist spirit and the dedication of European colleagues have ensured that the future of the lynx appears brighter than it did only 20 years ago. The success in the Alps has been greater than the most optimistic expectations (we have seen how the lynx has undertaken the repopulation of even the most southern part of this great mountain range). In Germany, two additional reintroduction programmes, one in the Black Forest and the other in the Palatine Forest, have been proposed.

A proposal to reintroduce the lynx in the Abruzzo National Park has been considered for some time now. The park is the heart of a vast system of protected areas, linked to Maiella, Gran Sasso, Monti della Laga, Sibillini, Monti Ernici and Simbruini, in the green core of the Central Apennines. Scientific, socio-political and organizational confirmation are now awaited to facilitate its implementation. The idea has provoked enthusiasm and hope and is generally seen as a good way to increase the value of the environment, thus completing the reintegration of those ecosystems where other predators are already present, among them the Marsican bear and the Apennine wolf.

Objections to this proposal can be reduced to four salient points:

the absence of evidence or reliable clues to the former presence of the lynx in peninsular Italy;
the lack of available space vital for cat population expansion;
the risk of the lynx preying on rare and localized fauna;
the possible hostility of local people.

there are consistent traces of the historic presence of lynx in peninsular Italy, no less than those relating to other species in the same time and place. It would be unethical to refuse this evidence a priori, since in similar cases it has been willingly accepted;
the overall space available in the Apennine system of protected areas is sufficient, as shown by the presence of large predators in those areas and by the spontaneous return of the lynx to areas certainly less protected and far smaller;
the possibility of the lynx preying on the Abruzzo chamois should not cause too much anxiety. In similar situations herbivorous populations confronted by a "new" predator have successfully developed defence mechanisms, while the most consistent damage has been suffered by non-endemic populations (mouflons in the Alps) or by red or roe deer, artificially accustomed to feeding from fodder troughs. We might also add that the reintroduction of the Abruzzo chamois to other Apennine massifs, starting from Maiella, is now under way;
hostility from local circles - cultural, political, zootechnical or hunting, often considered elsewhere a serious obstacle to the lynx, does not seem to appear at present in Italy. In the Alps (Lagorai), the return of the cat has been welcomed. In the Apennines (Abruzzo National Park), a local authority has invested its own money to prepare an area to provide hospitality for the animal.

But perhaps the real reason the lynx is being recalled to our forests is even more profound, and stems from a conscious ecological drive for the restoration of the earth's values. Give back to nature, as far as possible, what has been unjustly taken from it, for its own good, which is also the good of mankind. That is why we say with great expectation and joy: Welcome home, lynx!

* Professor, Appenine Ecological Study Centre, Abruzzo National Park, Italy

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