Eurasian Lynx Group Being Formed

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Eurasian Lynx Group Being Formed

CAT NEWS
Issue 17, Autumn 1992

Leading Swiss lynx researchers Urs and Christine Breitenmoser are convening a Eurasian Lynx Group (ELG) to bring together scientists working on lynx in order to improve coordination of research and possible re-introductions.

The Breitenmosers, leading figures in lynx research in Switzerland for eight years who recently worked for two years on Canada lynx, say that, although the Eurasian lynx occupies one of the largest areas of all extant cat species, its status is not known in detail. The lynx's main distribution is in Siberia, Central Asia and China, areas from which there is little information. In Europe, lynx survive in isolated populations, most of them small and some threatened.

Since 1970, eight attempts have been made to re-introduce lynx into former range in western and central Europe. These re-introductions were not coordinated, and, in fact, most of the re-introduced populations were not even monitored.

In this situation, improved cooperation among scientists, wildlife managers and conservationists interested in lynx is highly desirable. Several promising attempts to bring lynx specialists together have been made in the past, but their permanence was not ensured because they were not part of a widely-recognized institution. The IUCN Cat Specialist Group would be an appropriate host for an assembly of lynx specialists.

The principal aims of the ELG would be as follows:

to encourage dialogue among scientists involved in lynx research projects;

to facilitate exchange of experience among scientists involved in lynx projects;

to survey threatened autochthonous populations;

to promote coordination of re-introductions, and

to facilitate contact between specialists and wildlife managers or governmental organizations

The group will consist of invited scientists involved in lynx projects, who would be expected to help to make the ELG a voice for conservation throughout Eurasia. The ELG would cooperate with the IUCN Re-introduction Specialist Group in order to recommend and coordinate further re-introduction programmes.

We hope to have the backing of IUCN, as an internationally-recognized organization, for supporting necessary re-introductions and opposing in appropriate projects, the Breitenmosers declare.

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