A year ago, we released the first lynx from Carpathian Mountains to Risnjak National Park in Croatia in order to save the Dinaric population from extinction. In the first few weeks after the release, this lynx named Doru, crossed the Croatian-Slovenian border and settled in Slovenia near Postojna. We recorded his movement through GPS/GSM data from his collar, but he was also occasionally recorded on photo traps. Since January 2020, we have not received any new data from Doru’s collar. That is also the period when the mating season for lynx starts so we speculated he might have left his territory for mating and hoped we will receive data by the end of March. Unfortunately, until now there is still no new data from Doru. The collar also emits the VHF signal, which can be traced with an antenna, but the researchers who tried to locate the signal failed. The latter could indicate that the collar broke down, or the worst-case scenario – Doru got into some kind of trouble. Nevertheless, we will try again to locate him by the VHF signal and in the meantime check data from camera traps to see if he appears on any.
Doru recorded on camera trap. Video: LD Prestranek, LIFE Lynx
