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Young World
Lynx on the Alps
COMPILED BY SUBAJAYANTHI
Photo: AFP
Making a comeback: The lynx.
A lynx has appeared in the Italian Alps for the first time in 100 years! The authorities in Italy’s South Tyrol region say the lynx, which crossed the mountains from Switzerland, does not pose a threat to livestock in the area. The lynx was fitted with a signalling collar after being captured in Switzerland in February. Lynx were wiped out by hunters and farmers in the region in the early 20th Century. They were reintroduced in Switzerland in the 1970s. Lynx are solitary hunters, inhabiting high-altitude forests and preying on small mammals such as hares, foxes and small deer as well as fish. Wildlife authorities say there are about 100 lynx in Switzerland — in the north-western Alps and the Jura Mountains. Carnivores such as bear, lynx and wolves could be a risk in some places because alpine communities had forgotten simple preventive measures such as low-voltage fences and dogs trained to defend cattle.
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