Reintroduction of 2 young lynxes in German forests

The Domain of the Caves of Han is delighted and proud to announce that two Carpathian baby lynxes, born in the Wildlife Park in 2023, are soon to be released into the wild in Germany. This is of course fantastic news for this threatened species, as well as the very first time that a Belgian wildlife park has reintroduced lynxes back to nature! The two young lynxes left Han-sur-Lesse on Thursday 25 April to travel to Germany, where they were released into their natural habitat.

This is one of the Wildlife Park's many missions linked to the preservation of biodiversity and also one of its core objectives. In 2023, the Domain of the Caves of Han joined a lynx reintroduction programme led by the Linking Lynx Group. The Wildlife Park was selected on the basis of very specific criteria, including the species' living area, the environment and surroundings of the Domain, the lynxes genetic material... This selection is in perfect alignment with the Park's participation in the species breeding programme, spearheaded by the EAZA (the European Assocation for Zoos and Aquaria) since 2017. An added difficulty is the fact that the lynx is carnivorous as well as an apex predator, which means that breeding the species demands considerable resources (requiring specific infrastructures and animal care). This also entails that its reintroduction is a lot more complicated.

It is on this context that the Park welcomed a young female in 2023, in the hope that she and the Wildlife's Park male lynx would reproduce. Mid-July, we received a delightful suprise: two lynx cubs were born, a female and a male! In order to maximise their chances of survival in the wild, a very strict protocol was implemented, namely making sure that they had as little contact with humans as possible, in order to avoir socialisation in any shape or form. They were also fed a specific diet in order to encore to encourage their self-learning and increase their chances of survival in the wild.

The two lynx cubs are now 9 months old, which is the age of emancipation for the species. April 2 was the day of their big departure; they left Han-sur-Lesse to go and live a life of freedom in Germany, where they will most certainly enjoy many new adventures. The young male will be reintroduced into the Black Forest, in Bade-Wurtemberg, while the young female will be released in Saxony, near the Polish border. Let's wish these two baby lynxes, born in the Domain of the Caves of Han, an extraordinarily happy life in the heart of nature!