Lynx population grows slightly in northeastern Switzerland
The latest lynx monitoring by Kora, the Swiss Centre of Competence for Predator Ecology and Wildlife Management, shows that the density of the lynx population in northeastern Switzerland has increased slightly compared to the last survey. There are more lynxes at Tössstock, while numbers have declined in the Speer, Churfirsten, and Alvier area.
The latest lynx monitoring by KORA, the Swiss Centre of Competence for Predator Ecology and Wildlife Management, shows that the density of the lynx population in northeastern Switzerland has increased slightly compared to the last survey.
At 70 locations in northeastern Switzerland, two camera traps each were set up for 60 days during last winter. Images of the elusive predators were collected in the cantons of St. Gallen, Zurich, Appenzell Innerrhoden, and Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Based on their characteristic coat patterns, 17 independent lynxes and eight to ten young animals were identified.
From the collected data, KORA calculated a lynx density of 2.53 animals per 100 square kilometres. Lynxes in the Oberland had already shown increased activity the previous winter. In 2017, lynx B132 even gained international recognition. The animal, born in the Tössstock area, was captured in the Italian Trentino region. It had covered more than 200 kilometres.
Outlook for Switzerland
According to KORA, there were 30 lynx losses in 2017, compared to just ten in 2010. “The rising number of losses is a result of having more and more predators in the country,” says Fridolin Zimmermann of KORA. In 2010, an estimated 130 independent animals still lived in Switzerland. The most recent estimate already puts the figure at around 200 animals.
Around 16 percent of all lynxes found so far have fallen victim to poachers, with the actual number likely much higher. The most common cause of death is road accidents, which account for every third loss. More on wildlife and biodiversity.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In our dossiers on recreational hunting gather fact-checks, analyses and background reports. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
