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In the national park of Prespa in Albania, where the last Balkan lynxes live

2022-11-22 23:43:25Fokus SHKRUAR NGA LA REPUBBLICA
In the national park of Prespa in Albania, where the last Balkan lynxes live
Balkan lynx

La Repubblica / In the mountains overlooking the blue waters of Prespa, a national park located in southeastern Albania, wildlife experts monitor the last species of Balkan lynx, in an extreme effort to save it from 'extinction'.

Once widespread throughout the Balkans, this variety of lynx, which is not a subgroup of the Eurasian lynx, but nevertheless presents, due to prolonged isolation, its own characteristics, such as clearer spots on the skin, today remains limited in the mountains of Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia. The optimistic estimate is that there are about fifty species left, the pessimistic one 30.

For about fifteen years, the NGO Protection and Conservation of the Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) has made its efforts to save what is also called the "Balkan tiger" in these parts and which is the symbolic animal of North Macedonia.

These days, on the ridges of the Dry Mountain overlooking Prespa, two naturalists of the organization are placing automatic cameras, at the height of the lynx, on the oak trunks.

"It is always difficult to capture good images - says forest engineer Ilir Shytim to Agence France Press, while checking the cameras with his colleague Melitjan Nezaj.

Small differences in skin pattern and tufts of hair at the edges of the eyes allow researchers to identify lynx species.

"You have to observe and understand their movements", says the expert.

With a shy nature and not inclined to show himself, the almond-eyed cat, which every cat lover dreams of seeing at least once in his life, away from a zoo, is threatened by the progressive degradation of his habitat , from heavy deforestation, which is (also) reducing the population of its usual prey.

Then there is the direct responsibility of man.

According to Ppenea, at least 14 lynxes have been killed in Albania since 2006. The last known one, killed in 2020, was embalmed and put on display in a bar in Elbasan, about forty kilometers south-southeast of Tirana, along with other embalmed animals.

Ppnea filed a complaint against the club, but the case was closed due to "lack of evidence".

The three countries involved, namely Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania itself, have recently joined forces and approved the Balkan lynx recovery program, initially launched by foreign foundations, such as Kora, Euronatur and Mava.

Among the activities, there is the education of hunters and the general population on the threat of animal extinction.

But the battle is far from being won, even given the poverty of the available genetic heritage, in a community already reduced to minimal conditions, and the consequent difficulty to reproduce healthy and resistant species.

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