The team of EuroNatur’s partner organisation MES (Macedonian Ecological Society) were happy about a special Christmas present: on 20th December 2010, the conservationists could prove the existence of the Balkan lynx in another region of Macedonia with the help of a “camera trap”.
The lynx still finds an intact habitat in the forests of the Jasen nature preserve in Macedonia.
© BLRP/MES
Comprehensive field studies by MES and EuroNatur’s partner KORA (“Coordinated research center for large predators in Switzerland”) already proved a lynx population in the Mavrovo National Park and the Jablanica-Shebenik mountains (both located in Macedonia). The researchers, however, could only presume so far that the elegant hunter also roams the mountains south of Skopje based on little evidence.
The number of the Balkan lynx, which is a sub-species of the Eurasian lynx, is probably less than 100. The photo is therefore very important to help EuroNatur and its partners negotiate with decision makers to protect the habitat of these rare animals in the long term.