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Go to the Listen Again page | | | | | Lionel Kelleway asks if the Eurasian lynx can survive in the Alps. | | | |
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Conflict and co-operation, challenges and solutions - Lionel Kelleway finds the inside stories wherever wildlife and people meet across the continent.
| | |  | | | Radio-tracking the Eurasian lynx in Switzerland | |  ÌýListen againÌýto the programmeÌý | |
The Eurasian Lynx
After disappearing in the late nineteenth century due to human persecution and habitat loss, the Eurasian lynx was reintroduced into Switzerland a little over 30 years ago. Once widely distributed across Europe, the largest of the lynx family now only survives in pockets across Central and Western Europe and for Wild Europe, Lionel Kelleway travels to Switzerland to discover if thisÌýnew population is thriving.
Constant monitoring of the lynx in Switzerland reveals that this big cat is barely holding its own and population numbers are not as yet, "viable". Its habitat is fragmented, and even when there is space for the population to spread, the cat's behaviour prevents it from straying too far from the area of birth - especially when population density is low.
So should the reintroduction of the lynx be continued?ÌýIt could be left to dwindle naturally, or encouraged, by management, to spread across the Alps. One reason to restore this large-pawed ÌýpredatorÌýis to recreate its "ecological footprint" on the environment, which is to eat the ever expanding roe deer population. This causes problems in itself, as in the absence of the lynx, hunters have controlled the deer population with guns, and see the lynx as a threat to that way of life.
Finally, it has been realised that no one Alpine country is large enough to host a viable, thriving, long-term lynx population so whatever happens, the future of the lynx in Alpine Europe, is dependent on international co-operation. | | |
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