Conservationists carry out a thorough examination to check Maya’s health.
© MES/BLRP
With one last glance over her shoulder, Maya disappears into the snowy mountain forests.
© MES/BLRPOn 18 March last year, a female Balkan lynx called Maya was fitted with a tracking device. Over the past year, this has been providing scientists from the Macedonian Balkan lynx team of our partner organisation MES (Macedonian Ecological Society) with valuable data about her territorial behaviour, such as how big an area a fully grown female lynx requires. As the transmitter battery was gradually getting weaker, the lynx conservationists were on the lookout for an opportunity to capture Maya a second time.
Ten days ago, Maya fell into their trap. Scientists fitted the lynx with a new tracking device and carried out a number of examinations to check the state of her health. The results were most encouraging. Maya is in excellent shape! Once the investigations were over, she was able to be released unharmed back into the wild. Over the coming year, Maya’s telemetric data will once again be providing the MES team with important information about the ecology of this shy creature, making it possible to optimise efforts to protect the Balkan lynx in Macedonia.
Here you can find out about what action EuroNatur and its partner organisations are taking to help protect the Balkan lynx.