The Missing Lynx: The Return Of Slovenia’s Big Cat

The Eurasian lynx is a wildcat, easily distinguished by the long tufts of black hair on the tips of its ears, red-brown coat with black spots, long legs, thick webbed paws and…a telltale short tail. The limestone rock formations and thick coniferous and deciduous forests of Slovenia are prime habitat for lynx, who thrive in healthy forests with ample hiding and stalking opportunities. But despite its wide distribution – which can range from most parts of Europe to Central Asia and from Siberia to the Tibetan Plateau – it is threatened by habitat fragmentation and poaching, the reason they disappeared from Slovenia and many other European countries.

Today, Tilen is carrying on an important, and some would think unlikely role of Slovenian hunters, that started in the 1970s when a rare opportunity to bring lynx back to the forests of Slovenia – and ultimately Europe – was pounced upon.

In 1973 Yugoslavia the Slovenian hunter and forester, Maks Konečnik, took a wealthy Swiss hunter, Karl Weber, roe deer hunting in the forests of the Dinaric Alps. Comparable to the Carpathian Mountains in ruggedness, this wild mountain range stretches for over 650km from Italy, through Slovenia and the Balkans all the way to Albania. While trekking through the dense virgin beech and fir forest, Karl commented that these wild forests would have been where lynx once roamed. He then made a bizarre and surprising offer to the local hunter. ‘If you are ready to bring back and settle lynx (in Slovenia), I will finance it.’

Hunting is an old and respected tradition in Slovenia. Much like hiking and mountaineering, it has deep roots that go back before Yugoslavia. The small country is divided into over 400 hunting grounds, each managed by a ‘hunting family.’ Hunters must undergo rigorous training, follow specific rules including attending lectures and carrying out volunteer work each year. In Slovenia, hunters are the protectors of the forests and are directly involved in managing wildlife populations. They allow people and nature to coexist in overlapping landscapes with minimal negative interactions. They ensure Grandma’s garden doesn’t get eaten by an overpopulation of deer, and that corn fields aren’t decimated by wild boar while also ensuring wildlife have the space and resources to thrive in healthy numbers. Sure, hunters also hunt for the meat and any deer or boar that gets shot, gets eaten. ‘We (hunters) are in charge of protecting all indigenous animals,’ said Maks in response to the Swiss hunter’s offer. ‘If we don’t jump on this opportunity, then we are not needed.’

It was a visionary move at the time and true to his word, Karl paid for six Carpathian lynx to be translocated from the Czech Republic to Slovenia in January 1973. Hunters worked with the national forestry institute before, during and after the release, and today the European Union-funded LIFE Lynx project, which Tilen is a project advisor for, is continuing their work.

Tilen and I didn’t find any sign of that late-night lynx. But the sighting provided researchers with valuable information, as this would be the second lynx sighting in this region since the inception of the LIFE Lynx project.

A couple weeks later, I’m in the office of Urša Fležar, a biologist and monitoring expert with the project. We sit down in front of her large computer monitor where GPS points are sprinkled in clusters on a map of Slovenia. Her desk has neat piles of camo-patterned motion sensor cameras; camera traps, the tools of her trade.

The LIFE Lynx project has only had a couple of hunting families today refuse to have camera traps on their hunting territory, while others participate the bare minimum. But overall Urša has not had any negative interactions and the project has collaborated with between 40-50 hunting families for the five years of the project. 

‘Scientific studies have shown that lynx predation helps keep the environment in balance and keeps deer populations viable,’ says Tilen. ‘In Slovenia, we harmonise the presence of lynx in deer management plans and include the impact of lynx predation in yearly deer cull quotas. This ensures lynx have enough food and there are still deer for hunters to hunt.’

Despite concern around the impact lynx will have on game populations, it could be said that many hunters quietly recognise the privilege of having lynx roam their forests, a rarity not only in Europe but in the world. One hunter in the 70s put it simply; ‘We are confident lynx will do what a man cannot with a rifle.’

En route to check the second camera, we take advantage of an abandoned logging road, and it feels like we are out on a hike, with the soft evening light filtering through the golden beech leaves. 

Urša tells me we aren’t the only hikers to have spotted a lynx and share the information with the project. In June 2021, a couple of hikers came across a heap of lynx kittens on the side of a gravel road. They called Urša who recommended they hike on, assuring them that the mother would be back soon and was likely moving the family, one-by-one, from one den to another. This sighting was big news and confirmation of the first reproduction in the Alps from the LIFE Lynx translocated lynx and proof of increasing Slovenian lynx populations. It was also encouraging that the hikers knew where to call to get advice.

Public education is an important element of the LIFE Lynx project, and of successful lynx reintroduction in general. The Lynx Walk is a hiking guide that was created to help people – locals and tourists alike – experience the forest from the perspective of a lynx. It’s a free downloadable document that gives hikers information on lynx ecology, habitats and behaviour and how to recognise typical signs of lynx. ‘It also helps remind people that they are walking through someone’s home,’ says Urša who urges people to stick to trails, and be respectful of the forest.

Coexisting with large carnivores has, and will continue to be, a contested topic. Some see them as an added value, while some see them as a problem. The work Urša, Tilen and Branko are doing requires people from different user-groups and different countries, backgrounds, organisations to work together. A day in the field with a hunter like Branko reminds Urša that they are making progress. ‘It works because we are all working towards the same goal; preserving the lynx,’ she says. And Tilen agrees. ‘Hunters and biologists should not be on two poles but should work together. This (project) offers a tremendous opportunity to bring biologists and hunters closer together and show we have the same interests.’