Slovenian bear off to Spain, lynxes to be imported
Ljubljana, 13 May - The government okayed on Thursday a plan to send a brown bear male to the Spanish Pyrenees by the end of June in a relocation that will be paid for by Spain. It also adopted a strategy that envisages the import of lynxes from Slovakia and Romania to prevent a complete disapperance of these animals from the country.
Having a sizeable brown bear population, Slovenia has already relocated several brown bears to the French Pyrenees in the past.
The situation with lynxes, which already disappeared from the Slovenian woods in the past to be brought back in the 1970s, is very different. Only 10 to 15 are estimated to be left in country, the main cause for the decline being inbreeding.
Thus, the government has adopted a strategy that includes an EU-backed relocation of lynxes from Slovakia and Romania.