Conservation of Canada Lynx

Project Animal(s) : Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)
Project Category : Mammals
Project Region : South America
Project Type : Conservation
Project URL : http://www.catsg.org/index.php?id=97
Project is timebound? : No

The Canada lynx is included in Appendix II of CITES and is managed for exploitation over most of its range. In Canada this is done by provincial and territorial governments where season limits and closures, quotas, and long-term trapping concessions are used for regional management. In the U.S., the Canada lynx is only harvested in Alaska where harvest quotas follow population status.

To avoid a negative impact on the Canada lynx population by harvesting, most provinces in Canada and Alaska have implemented management measures to reduce harvest during the low phases of cycles. There have also been recommendations made to trappers on how they could reduce accidental taking of lynx in traps set for other species.

The U.S. government has developed a recovery plan and identified critical habitat for the threatened Canada lynx populations. In February 2008 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a revised designation of critical habitat of 110,739 km² of critical lynx habitat, and this was revised again in 2013. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has identified six “core” areas for which there is evidence of lynx reproduction within the last 20 years.

In the 1980s there was an unsuccessful attempt to reintroduce lynx into New York State. More recent reintroductions of Canada lynx into Colorado seem to be successful however. An important issue is to assure the connectivity between the lynx occurring in the south with the northern populations to improve the recovery of the southern populations.

Project Agency : Cat Specialist Group

Project Agency Contact : http://www.catsg.org/index.php?id=1

Additional Information :

http://www.catsg.org/index.php?id=13