A lynx that was first spotted in the Swiss National Park in December has been released back to the wild after being caught and fitted with a GPS transmitter.
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The lynx – the first discovered in the park for 25 years – was trapped on Friday before being anaesthetised and fitted with the device, which will monitor the wild cat’s movements.
A statement said the lynx was a young fully-grown male weighing 24 kg. Blood samples were taken to try to identify where the animal came from. It was released after one and a half hours in captivity.
The lynx is Switzerland’s largest native wild cat and was reintroduced into the country in 1971. It is mainly found in the northern Alps and the Jura region.
Its small numbers still make it an endangered species in the country.
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Looking for the missing lynx
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The Federal Environment Agency has called on the cantons concerned to take action. Meanwhile the lynx debate rages between environmentalists and hunters. Cuts to LUNO, an organisation sponsored by the environment agency which oversaw the reintroduction of the large cats into the region, mean that monitoring of the lynx population is also under threat. When…
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In spring this year, under the auspices of the state-funded Luno project (Lynx Relocation North Eastern Switzerland), six of the large carnivores were moved for their own protection from the northwestern to the northeastern Alps. The group is now thriving and there have been no reports of any attacks on livestock in the area. A…
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Other alpine nations such as Austria, Italy and France have also made attempts to reintroduce animal, but with less success. The decline of the lynx in western Europe occurred in the 19th century, when the habitat of its natural prey, roe deer, was destroyed by farmers clearing forest for agriculture. The few remaining lynx were…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.