Fauna Journal Entry

Lynx Released in Colorado (April 2, 2000)

Thirty-three Canada lynx were released into the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado this week. The releases are the first in a campaign to bring about 50 more of the cats to the state this year in hopes that they will breed and reestablish a population. Last year, forty-one lynx were released in the same region.

The cats, which were brought in from Canada, were released both east and west of the Continental Divide. According to an official with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the release was timed for the beginning of the lynx breeding season. The cats normally give birth in June.

The lynx reintroduction campaign has been opposed by ranchers who fear the cats will kill livestock. Some environmentalists also criticized the program after 17 of the animals introduced last year died, some of starvation. The Colorado Division of Wildlife official said that last year the lynx were released too soon, before they had a chance to adjust to their new surroundings.

The cats once roamed throughout Colorado, but the last confirmed sighting before their reintroduction was in 1973. The state lists the lynx as an endangered species, and the federal government recently listed it as a threatened species that could become endangered in the near future.