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June 24, 2009
Denver, Colorado – The Colorado Division of Wildlife
today announced that 10 lynx kittens have been found so far during
the annual spring lynx survey. The kittens--seven female and three
male--were the first documented since 2006.
Division of Wildlife researchers located five dens, including
three near traditional release sites in the San Juan Mountains and
two further north in Gunnison and Eagle counties.
"The discovery of kittens this year is extremely promising," said
Tanya Shenk, DOW lynx field researcher. "The locations of the dens
show that lynx are beginning to expand their ranges and are once
again finding both food and habitat necessary for successful
reproduction."
In addition, two dens housed kittens from Colorado-born
parents--the first kittens documented where both parents are
native to Colorado. Division biologists believe there may be
additional dens and kittens not found during this year's survey.
"The number of lynx fitted with active radio collars is perhaps
the lowest since we started the program," said Shenk. "We can't
track all the female lynx so it is probably safe to assume there
are more dens and kittens out there than what we found during our
survey."
Researchers are currently monitoring 49 lynx with active radio
collars. A large percentage of the original collars have stopped
functioning and the vast majority of kittens born in Colorado have
not been fitted with transmitters. As a result, estimates of the
number of kittens produced are conservative. The dens located by
field staff during spring surveys reflect a minimum number of
kittens in a reproductive season.
Division biologists speculate that a reduction in the snowshoe
hare population may have contributed to a declining number of
kittens surveyed in recent years. In Alaska and Canada, it is well
documented that the population of lynx fluctuates with the
snowshoe hare population. Limited observations by wildlife
managers indicate that the hare population is down from just a few
years ago.
Since the lynx reintroduction program began in 1999, a total of
218 lynx have been reintroduced. The cats were brought to Colorado
from Alaska and Canada.
A total of 126 lynx kittens are known to have been born in
Colorado: 16 kittens in 2003; 39 kittens in 2004; 50 kittens in
2005; 11 kittens in 2006 and 10 kittens in 2009.
While these results give a strong indication that lynx are
adapting well to Colorado's mountains, DOW biologists are
reluctant to say they've reached the conclusion of this project.
"We are very close to achieving all of our goals for the lynx
reintroduction," said Rick Kahn, DOW lead biologist. "We have had
successful breeding and we have had Colorado-born lynx reproduce.
Our next goal is to determine if our level of recruitment is
exceeding our mortality rates over a couple of years. We are very
encouraged by the results this year and are hopeful that these
animals will contribute towards a sustaining population for
Colorado."
The lynx reintroduction program is funded by the DOW, private
donations and Great Outdoors Colorado, which receives its funding
through the Colorado State Lottery. The Colorado Wildlife Heritage
Foundation has been instrumental in helping raise funds to
continue lynx monitoring efforts.
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