Poland to forge links with Estonian cats

ESTONIA IS preparing to send several lynx to Poland to help boost its dwindling population of Europe’s largest cat.

Biologists in the Baltic state plan to capture the lynx – probably from two to four animals – towards the end of winter and release them in the forests of northern Poland. In this region, hunting of the big cats and their prey have caused a dramatic decline in numbers in recent decades.

About 20 Eurasian lynx will be moved from Estonia to Poland’s Piska and Napiwodzko-Ramutskie forests in the coming years if the first animals settle in successfully this spring. Estonia has perhaps the most dense populations of lynx in Europe, with 800 in the relatively small country. Last year, the government gave permission to hunters to kill 185 lynx to keep the population in check.

Estonia is also home to healthy numbers of the two predators in Europe that are larger than the lynx – the brown bear and the wolf.

Peep Mannil of the Estonian Environmental Information Centre said: “There are very few lynx in this area of northern Poland and there is little chance of migration from another area boosting the numbers, so to ensure the survival of the population you have to reintroduce lynx there.

“If you reintroduce animals from zoos, they often have a different genetic structure to the wild animals and are not used to hunting,” Mr Mannil added. “The lynx in northern Poland and the Baltic states have the same genetic structure, and the ones we introduce will be wild and able to hunt.”

The habitat and prey available in the Polish forest and lakeland regions was similar to those in Estonia, Mr Mannil said, suggesting that the lynx should adapt relatively easily to their new home.