A case of lynx shot dead in Austria successfully solved
6.4.2016, Carnivores.cz
Kalkalpen National Park in Austria is raising an alarm: all the male lynx seem to have disappeared from here. World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Kalkalpen National Park and Austrian League for Nature Conservation (Naturschutzbund Österreich) offer a reward of ten thousand euros for evidence which could help with the investigation or even lead to the apprehension of person or persons responsible. Together with the criminal police, environmental organizations ask the public to report anything that could be related to the incident.
People may contact Christian Fuxjäger of Kalkalpen National Park at telephone number +437584/3951-140 or Chief Inspector Othmar Coser of Regional Police Directorate of Upper Austria, tel +435 913 340-3400, e-mail: othmar.coser@polizei.gv.at.
The map of Kalkalpen National Park in the Upper Austria. Source: Wikimedia
A woman responsible for the lynx shooting
The public already helped to catch one of the offenders, a woman who was behind the shooting of a lynx known to scientists as "B7". The male was an offspring of the lynx reintroduced to the area belonging to the Catholic Church construction fund in Weyer. Investigators of the Austrian Criminal Investigation Office received information that led them to a taxidermist in Linz. The body of lynx was found in a plastic bag in his freezer. However, the person responsible for shooting the endangered animal was man’s 64-year-old wife.
The court did not accept her claim that she mistook the lynx for a fox because of the body hidden in the freezer. The woman was sentenced to three months prison sentence and 12,500 euros fine; this is approximately how much the reintroduction of one lynx costs. Public Prosecution in Steyer believes that the husband and wife are also connected to the disappearance of more lynx. As the couple remains silent, the reward was offered in the hope that other witnesses come forward to provide crucial evidence.
A male lynx Jago as captured by the camera trap in August 2014. It has been missing ever since. Source: Christian Fuchsjäger
New reintroductions to replace the disappeared animals
Poaching is not the problem only for the lynx. The bears seem to have been exterminated from three Austrian regions – Upper Austria, Lower Austria, and Styria. Golden eagles and common buzzards were also found dead in the same area.
„We now have two female lynx – Skadi a Kora – and three young lynx born in 2014" confirms Franz Sieghartsleitner of Kalkalpen National Park. „The Swiss organization KORA is currently involved in the project of capturing several male lynx to be moved to our national park," he adds. The ongoing mating season is the best time for this but despite intensive efforts, no suitable animal has been lured into the trap so far.
A female lynx called Rosa was captured for the last time by a camera trap in August 2015. She was a daughter of the missing male Jago. Source: Christian Fuchsjäger
Illegal killing of lynx, unfortunately, puts the whole project of the lynx reintroduction to Kalkalpen at risk. Some of the disappeared animals have been fitted with a radio collar for telemetry research. Despite that, there have been no signs of any of males for a few years now. The overview of the Kalkalpen National Park lynx and their relationships is available here (page in German). The first successfully solved case of lynx killing gives us hope that other poachers will be brought to justice in Austria and also in the Czech Republic.
Friends of the Earth Czech Republic (Hnutí DUHA) is offering 100,000 CZK for any information which would lead to the conviction of anyone responsible for the illegal killing of a wolf, lynx or bear in the Czech Republic. No poacher has been found guilty by court so far. The Czech-Moravian Hunting Union cooperates with Friends of the Earth CZ in these efforts.
AUTHOR: SIMONA HORKÁ, TRANSLATION: GABRIELA KALETOVÁ
Project co-financed by the European Union.
