19.06.2013 change 19.06.2013

Electronic trail of long walks of Mazury lynx

Luna, Estonian lynx female brought to the Pisz Forest at the end of March, feels right at home in Mazury. This is confirmed by the signals from her telemetry collar, reported WWF Polska.

Luna is the fourth lynx brought from Estonia to the Mazury forest in order to restore the population of this predator.

"Before being released into the wild, lynx are equipped with telemetry collars, which allow to monitor how the animals adapt to the Polish conditions" - said Stefan Jakimiuk of WWF Polska.

WWF Polska also monitors Mazury lynx with 30 cameras hidden in Pisz Forest and Napiwodzko-Ramuckie Forest. One of the Estonian lynx females, Wielka Sobota, and two other lynx were caught on the hidden cameras as much as seven times.

"Through monitoring, we know that Wielka Sobota feels right at home in the Mazury woods and just loves water - lakes and wetland forests. The often choses to shorten her route and prefers to swim across the lake, rather than walk around it. She swam across the lakes Mokre, Bełdany, Nidzkie, Zyzdrój, Białe and Gant. Some of these waters she swam several times. In the winter, Wielka Sobota often crossed lakes on the ice, in the narrower passages also several times" - said Jakimiuk.

Environmentalists also observed Wielka Sobota sharpening her claws and leaving scent marks. This way, she can leave not only smell, but also hair on the bark. On the basis of collected hair and faeces, environmentalists want to conduct genetic monitoring of lynx.

According to Jakimiuk, another animal, male lynx, went on a walk in the winter, circling the largest Mazury woods from the north he wandered down to the Kaliningrad region, and then returned to the vicinity of the Pisz Forest. Within two months he crossed about 300 kilometers. Lynx released into the wild usually hunted deer, but occasionally also on hares and wild boars. Wielka Sobota attempted to hunt beavers.

Even 25 years ago the Mazury forests were home to lynx, but human pressure, mainly excessive hunting and poaching, led to the extinction of these animals in the second half of the 1980s. WWF Polska in cooperation with the State Forests helps lynx return to the Pisz Forest and Napiwodzko-Ramuckie Forest. Environmentalists bring wild lynxes from Estonia to the Mazury forest, they release young lynxes born in captivity into the wild. With the method designed by Dr. Andrzej Krzywiński, predators born in captivity already in the early weeks of life can explore wildlife and learn to live in the wild.

WWF Polska protects lynx through the project "Active protection of lowland populations of lynx in Poland", co-financed by the European Union.

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