5 hours agoShareSaveJonah FisherBBC environment correspondentReporting fromKarlsruhe, GermanyShareSaveA lynx born in a zoo in Cornwall could become the first UK zoo-born cat to be successfully released into the wild.Animals born and raised in zoos are rarely considered for release because they either don’t have the survival skills or have become too used to human interaction.But a shortage of female lynxes in the European breeding programme led to the unusual request being made for the cat from Newquay Zoo.It has been moved to Germany’s Black Forest where it will spend the next few months being monitored in an enclosure to see if it’s up to the challenge.Jonah Fisher/BBCOver the next few months the lynx will be monitored to see if it has the necessary skills to survive in the wild. Catching and killing prey is not expected to be a problem.”If you know your cats, you know that even a cat that has lived in a room its whole life, once it gets out is able to kill a bird or a mouse,” Eva Klebelsberg who runs the lynx reintroduction programme for Baden-Württemberg told us.We’re standing over the carcass of a Roe Deer in the Black Forest just outside Karlsruhe. There is a small population of lynxes already living in the forest and this is one of their kills.There are puncture marks on its throat – a sure sign.”Our ecosystems in Europe are missing large predators,” Eva says, explaining that the lynx helps control populations of deer as well as ensuring that they keep moving and don’t strip forested areas.The key question in relation to the Newquay lynx is likely to be its relationship with humans. Having spent its entire life looking through bars at visitors and being fed by keepers it will need to show that it is not going to seek out more human interaction.”Central Europe is very crowded and we don’t have many places where there is enough space for larger animals.” says Dr Marco Roller from Karlsruhe zoo, who manages the enclosure. “We don’t want human animal conflicts. So for us it’s important we don’t have aggressive animals or curious animals which may walk through cities or close to human settlements.”The final decision on the Newquay lynx’s fate will be taken later in the summer after several months of close monitoring. Additional reporting by Tom Ingham and Tony Jolliffe …
