In September project team members form ACDB and Slovenia Forest Service started with the preparatory work for the upcoming lynx capture season in Romania. “During one week of intensive field work we carried out inspections of the already established lynx capture sites and managed to setup one new box trap. On the locations where box traps were set up in previous seasons, we had to renew the barriers around the traps that make it harder for lynx to bypass the trap, explained Teodora Sin from ACDB. Also one new box trap was set up in Lepsa study area in Eastern Carpathian Mountains where the presence of a female lynx with kittens was recorded in the previous lynx monitoring season.
Setting up a new box-trap. Photo: LIFE Lynx
Team members from ACDB and Slovenia Forest Service after setting up the barrier of branches around the box-trap. Photo: Gregor Simčič, LIFE Lynx
The abovementioned activities represent the start of the new capture season in Romania, but the work needed for successful capture of lynx is far from over. In the coming months the ACDB team will inspect and set up even more box traps in different parts of Carpatian Mountains, and after that all the traps have to be activated and regularly monitored. So hard work needed to capture this elusive cats has just begun.