Translocation

BUND Thuringia, Germany, 11 April 2025:

On Thursday, 10 April, the project team of "Lynx Thuringia – Connecting Europe's Lynx" successfully released another lynx into the wild in the Thuringian Forest. The male lynx, named Ionel, will strengthen the small but steadily growing population of lynx in Thuringia and thus make an important contribution to the conservation of this fascinating wild animal species in Germany. Since the project began in January 2024, four lynx have already been released into the wild by Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) and its project partners in the Thuringian Forest. More animals are to follow by 2027 – with the aim of establishing a permanent population. In the long term, the existing populations in the Bavarian Forest and the Harz Mountains are to be connected. According to the Red List of Threatened Species, lynx in Germany are classified as ‘critically endangered’. The few existing populations are highly isolated from each other. Reintroduction projects are intended to help reintroduce the rare cats.

On 3 April, Ionel arrived in the Thuringian Forest and moved into the local reintroduction enclosure. Here he had time to get used to his new surroundings. "Ionel is a young, healthy male lynx – about three to four years old, and weighing around 22 kilograms. He survived the transport well and showed a healthy appetite from the start – a clear sign that he has settled in quickly," explains Ronny Eckhardt, ThüringenForst.

The lynx is not alone in the Thuringian Forest
Ionel may soon meet some of his own kind in the Thuringian Forest. Frieda and Viorel were released in May 2024, followed by Vreni and Kilian in August 2024. The data from their collar transmitters regularly show the project team where the animals are. "Lynx are actually solitary animals," explains Markus Port, lynx coordinator at BUND Thuringia and at the University of Göttingen, "but during the mating season in March, Frieda and Kilian became closer and roamed the forest together for a while. This raises hopes for offspring!"

The lynx that has now been released into the wild, Ionel, comes from Romania, where project partners in the Suceava region carefully captured him in a live trap. The lynx was examined by a veterinarian on the spot and then transferred to a quarantine enclosure. Max Boxleitner, lynx expert at WWF: "Our Romanian partners have a tradition of naming a lynx after the gamekeeper in whose territory it was caught – that's how Ionel got his name. It's a sign of appreciation that we were happy to take up. We are pleased that the reintroduction has once again been a success thanks to close cooperation with our Romanian partners. This shows that species protection knows no borders."

Ionel's movements through the Thuringian Forest are now being tracked using the GPS data from his collar transmitter. "We are very excited to see how Ionel settles into his new home," Markus Port concludes.

Background:
The "Lynx Thuringia – Connecting Europe's Lynx" project will run until the end of August 2027 and is being implemented as part of the "Funding of Nature and Landscape Development Projects" (ENL) programme of the Thuringian Ministry for the Environment, Energy, Nature Conservation and Forestry (TMUENF) – and jointly by BUND Thuringia, the BUND Federal Association, WWF Germany, the Wildkatzendorf Hütscheroda, ThüringenForst, the Thuringian Hunting Association, the UNESCO-Biosphere Reserve Thuringian Forest, the Thuringian Forest Nature Park, the Georg-August-University of Göttingen and the Romanian project partners ACDB and Romsilva. The project is part of the European lynx expert network Linking Lynx, which is dedicated to the conservation and networking of lynx populations in Central Europe. The Ministry of the Environment is supporting the project with around 2.9 million euros until 2027, a fifth of which comes from the Thuringian state budget and the remaining 80 percent of which is co-financed by ENL funds from the EU.