Translocation Update

Press release, Landesamt für Umwelt, Landwirtschaft und Geologie, Saxony, 28.11.2024:

The female lynx Alva, which was released into the wild in the Westerzgebirge region of Saxony in spring 2024, is to be captured and undergo a health check before the 2025 mating season. She is infected with the feline leukaemia virus (FeLV). As the Saxon State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology (LfULG) announced today in Dresden, the health check is intended to clarify Alva's infection status. Two different test methods are used for this purpose. Firstly, blood samples are taken for a rapid test for FeLV, and then blood samples are sent to the laboratory for an express analysis.

Alva, a female lynx from the Swiss Jura population, had successfully passed all the prescribed health tests, including three tests for FeLV, before being released into the wild in Saxony on 28 March 2024. One month later, the RELynx Saxony project team received news from the Swiss Institute for Fish and Wildlife Health (FIWI) that Alva had been found to be infected with FeLV in a blood test carried out retrospectively in the laboratory for scientific purposes. The infection probably occurred shortly before the capture.

Context: FeLV is a viral infection that is only infectious to felines. The virus can only be transmitted through direct contact with an infected animal, for example through bites, mutual grooming or during mating. The infection can also take a variety of different courses. There are abortive, regressive and progressive forms. In an abortive course, the virus has been successfully combated by the immune system. In the case of a regressive course, the lynx is infected for life, but does not excrete the virus and is not infectious to other felines. In a progressive course, the virus actively multiplies in the blood and is continuously excreted. Other cats can become infected through direct contact. This is known as permanent viraemia, which weakens the immune system. In this form of progression, cats develop a variety of symptoms such as tumours and secondary infections, from which they usually die within a few months to years.

If the test results show that Alva is not contagious, the animal could be released again, as currently requested. She is a sexually mature, experienced mother who can make a decisive contribution to reproduction and thus to the establishment of a stepping stone population in Saxony. Offspring are particularly important in the initial phase of a reintroduction project: on the one hand to stabilise the population and on the other to increase genetic diversity. If the disease is progressive, Alva is contagious for the other lynxes and would have to be euthanised on site by a veterinarian. The majority of lynx experts in Germany, the Czech Republic and Switzerland share the view that Alva should be removed from the population if the infection is progressive.

The LfULG has applied to the relevant authorities in Saxony for the necessary exemptions under hunting law and nature conservation law. Whether the authorisations will be granted is currently still open.

Background:

The ‘RELynx Saxony’ project is an important species conservation project of the Free State of Saxony and is part of the nationwide strategy to stabilise the German lynx population. The aim is to reintroduce up to 20 Carpathian lynxes (Lynx lynx carpathicus) to the ore and Elbe Sandstone Mountains by the end of 2027. The reintroduction in Saxony will establish a new stepping stone. A network of several neighbouring lynx subpopulations is to be established. In the medium term, the Saxon population will act as a link between the natural populations in the Carpathians and the previously isolated populations in the Bohemian Forest, north-east Bavaria and the Harz Mountains.

As a reintroduction project, the ‘RELynx Saxony’ project is part of the international Linking Lynx Expert Network. This deals with the conservation, monitoring and management of the Carpathian lynx. Linking Lynx develops protocols and guidelines for the use of animals reared in enclosures for reintroduction and population support projects.

The ‘RELynx Saxony’ project is being led by the State Environmental Agency of Saxony (LfULG) on behalf of the Saxon Ministry of the Environment. The LfULG awarded the project coordination to the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung following a public tender. The associated Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz has a long tradition of mammal research, and the scientists can draw on specialised knowledge in the study of large carnivores and their prey. The LfULG is supported by the Chair of Forest Zoology at Dresden University of Technology for monitoring purposes. On behalf of the Free State of Saxony, it has been carrying out coordinated monitoring of the largest cat in Central Europe since 2008 in order to obtain precise information on the occurrence, distribution and range utilisation of the Saxon lynx.

Since the beginning of November, the ‘Oberes Vogtland’ landscape conservation association has been supporting the ‘RELynx Saxony’ project. The Riedelhof Eubabrunn nature conservation station, which belongs to the association, is now also a ‘Regional Lynx Information Centre’. The Riedelhof is a central contact point for nature and species conservation in the Vogtland region. An employee has been hired for regional public relations work for the Saxon species conservation project from project funds for ‘RELynx Saxony’.

Although attacks on livestock are rare, lynx can kill sheep, goats and game kept in enclosures. The LfULG's Specialist Wolf Unit is responsible for assessing the damage and thus provides the basis for possible compensation from the Saxony State Directorate. In addition, livestock farmers are supported in prevention.

The ‘RELynx Saxony’ project is financed by budget funds from the Free State of Saxony.