A lynx, a protected species whose elimination is prohibited, was slaughtered a few days ago in the town of Fellering, in the Haut-Rhin. A judicial investigation was opened to try to find the author of this poaching act, said the prefecture on Thursday.
The animal, found on January 16, “is an adult male specimen that was not known to the services of the French biodiversity office as part of the national knowledge and monitoring program for this heritage species (wolf network / lynx) ", added the prefecture.
An autopsy revealed "the probable origin of the death of the animal by firearm".
"A long series of killings"
It was the first lynx slaughtered in eastern France since 2014. That year, a female had been killed in the Jura, the department which shelters almost all of the French population of the feline.
Veterinary analysis of a lynx captured in 2017 in the Doubs region, dead during its transfer, also revealed that the animal's body was riddled with more than 120 pellets, probably from a shotgun shot dating from 2013 or 2014.
"The Vosges massif is a natural place for the presence of the lynx and could accommodate around twenty animals if they were given the chance to live peacefully," regretted the Alsace Nature association, which wishes to take action in this case. "The lynx were reintroduced in 1983, the population owes its very low presence only to a long series of killings," deplores the association.