the return of the lynx in north-western Poland

摘要: The plan for the reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx to western Pomerania has been implemented by the Western Pomeranian Natural Society and financed under the Infrastructure and Environment Program 2014–2020. The approach is to use a combination of soft release of captive-born lynx and possibly translocation of wild lynx from the north-eastern European lowland population, but also importing individuals from breeding centers. During the project five breeding and adaptive enclosures have been built. The lynx are bred in captivity, trained for hunting wild prey and released. It is aimed that the lynx used in the program are of Baltic population origin. Either blood or hair samples are collected from all individuals and genotyped for 20 autosomal microsatellite loci coupled with control region (mitochondrial DNA) sequencing. Breeding is only allowed for pairs of genetically proved Baltic origin and unrelated individuals. Before releasing, the lynx are fitted with GPS (280 g) collars.Sixty-one lynx (26 females, 35 males, including 59 individuals imported from the breeding centers and 2 born in captivity) were released until July 2021. Fifteen lynx (24.6%) did not survive due to vehicle collisions (4), diseases (8, mostly mange), predation (1) or unknown reasons (2). Another six are missing due to lack of GPS contact. All the remaining animals have well settled in the field and are efficient hunters. They are very rarely observed by people. The majority of individuals spread and established home ranges