Lynx in Eastern Bavaria

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Lynx in Eastern Bavaria

CAT NEWS
Issue 29, Autumn 1998

The lynx situation in Eastern Bavaria has markedly improved within the last two years. After a controversial history (see Cat News 25, Autumn 1996, p. 18) work focused on improving intraspecific human interactions –- apparently with success. Fact-based information was distributed in the region, using oral and written devices (e.g. Wölfl & Hofmann 1997). The principal interest groups were finally persuaded that the lynx issue and related problems could only be dealt with on an objective and honest level.

In November 1997, an international symposium "Der Luchs in Mitteleuropa" took place in Deggendorf, organized by the associations for nature conservation, bird protection and Bavarian hunters. As the first symposium jointly organized, this meeting marked a milestone for future common actions to conserve nature in Bavaria (Landesjagdverband Bayern e.V., 1998). Leading international experts discussed lynx ecology and current management approaches.

As a result, a compensation fund for loss of livestock to lynx was implemented. Carefully selected local people are being trained as experts to examine reported kills. Furthermore, talks about the lynx-issue will go on in round-table discussions at local and national levels. Right now, the main focus lies on lynx predation on roe deer Capreolus capreolus and its possible effects on forest recovery action plans (e.g. Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten 1998). As a side effect, international communication was enforced and will soon result in an overview of status and conservation in the Sumava region (Wölfl et al., in preparation).

The most important work will remain the maintenance and enforcement of mutual trust within the region. Land users and nature conservationists have to overcome existing prejudices against each other and need to focus on the common aim: to improve habitat for game, and all other species.

The first hints of the return of the lynx to Eastern Bavaria were recorded in the late 1950s in the Bohemian and Bavarian forests. The few individuals might have migrated from the population in Slovakia. In the early 1970s, an unknown number of lynx were released into the Bavarian forest, but all interested groups were not informed, and in a harsh, but understandable, reaction hunters and farmers formed an alliance against the lynx. After a population peak of 10-12 animals in the mid-1970s, numbers dwindled to virtually zero by the early 1980s, due to poaching, road kills and emigration.

Between 1982 and 1989, the Czech authorities released a total of 17 lynx in the Bohemian forest. This time the population prospered and formed the nucleus of the current estimated 100 lynx inhabiting the border areas of Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Manfred Wölfl
Naturpark Bayerischer Wald e.V.
Theresienthal 29, 94227 Zwiesel,
Germany

References

Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten. 1998. Forstliche Gutachten zur Situation der Waldverjüngung 1997, Abschlußbericht. München, 48 pp.

Landesjagdverband Bayern e.V.. (in press). Der Luchs in Mitteleuropa. Wissenschaftliches Symposium, Deggendorf, 21./22. November 1997. Band 5 der Schriftenreihe des Landesjagdverband in Bayern. Feldkirchen.

Wölfl, M. & Hofmann, A. 1997. Ich der Luchs –- geheimnisvolle Waldkatze. Naturpark Bayerischer Wald e.V., 14 pp.

Wölfl, M., Cerveny, J., Bufka, L., Koubek, P., Habel, H., Heurich, M., Kiener, H., Strunz, H., Huber, T. & Poost, W. (in preparation). Distribution and Status of the Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) in the Sumava Mountains and adjacent areas.

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