After Catalin came very close to Nature Park Učka in Istria (Croatia), he turned northeast, crossed Gorski Kotar, and then returned to Slovenia. On the map below, we can see that he first headed towards Kočevsko, but then turned north again and continued towards the direction of Ljubljana.
Map of Catalin’s movement (blue line) after the release (marked with a star). Photo: Lan Hočevar, LIFE Lynx
He made a few stops on the way and in one of them, he proved that his hunting skills are still very good, as we found the remains of his prey, a female roe deer. We were able to set up a photo trap at the kill site so we could check Catalin’s body condition and monitor the consumption of his prey. The video below shows typical lynx feeding behavior, which ends by covering the prey with leaves and soil to hide it from scavengers. He fed on this roe deer for 3 days and then continued his way north. Currently he is roaming around Rakitna plateau and appears to be still on the mission to establish his new territory. Fingers crossed that he finds it soon, hopefully in an area with some local females.