Role of the County Administrative in the regulation of the lynx population

      Article written following the meeting with Johan Månsson of County administrative of Uppsala

Data :  

      Minimum level of lynx at Uppsala county: 23 lynxes
      National minimum level: 137 to 250 unit of family

• Situation at Uppsala

How many lynx do you have in Uppsala län? What’s the density?

            There are between 24 and 30 lynxes shared with the other counties around, it means about 6 or 8 family groups.

Lynx are where the games are and there are a lot of hares and roe deers in the region of Uppland. Lynx have obviously a great impact on roe deer population in the area, it’s why they must regulate the population of lynx.

Photo source : interstices

How are their territories?

            Currently the territory of the lynx is about 20-30km² for female and 40-50km² for male. The territories often overlap each other when this is a mother and her daughter. The lynx can tolerate her daughters but not other lynx. It's rare that male territories overlap. Example :

 Photo source : KORA

Red : female's territory

Blue : male's territory

• Role of the County Administrative

            The main roles of the County Administrative are to:

 - list the lynx of the County

 - decide the quota of the lynx for the year in its County

            CA estimates the population by listing family groups (i.e. the mother lynx with her kittens) because it’s easier and you can deduce the lynx population after with a good approximation. Indeed, a study conducted by Grimsö Wildlife Research Center shows that the number of lynx can be known by multiplying the number of family group by 5,5:

Nbr of lynx ≈ Nbr of family group x 5,5

How can we list the number of family groups?

        The listing is made by tracking. It’s necessary to have a period of 2 months of snow at least to track them. They do the track since the first snow fall (2010 in October, 2011 in December) until the last day of February (the hunting starts 1^st of March and last all the month). Sometimes they have to follow the footsteps during 3km to determine if they belong to a family group or a single animal: kittens walk consistently in the footsteps of their mother, suggesting that this is only a single animal. You need to find a place where the tracks split up at last.

        The team consists of 6 people trained and educated : they have to have the similar level of knowledge.

 Photo source : Singo

            Sometimes they organize a big operation to separate family groups to each other with a special method to know if there two or only one family.

They have to wait two days after the snow stop fallen and it needs about 300 people to look for tracks. When someone find a track, they call the central person who collect the track. They follow the track in reverse to find the place where the snow stopped fallen, in this way they can put a time repair on the track.

And if you can find another track which was printed at the same moment in another place, you can prove that they are two different family groups.

            Track make you asking many questions, after a lot of experience you are quite able to know how the lynx behave, to think like him.

            Then the County Administrative has to send a report with all these tracking dates to EPA which collect all of them in a data base so that they can know the current state of the situation of the lynx.

Do you have all the responsibilities concerning large predators?

            Concerning the survey of large predators, the County Administrative has held all the responsibilities for 10 years. Lately in 2010, County Administrative had also the responsibility of the hunting management but EPA still decides the quota, based on the current lynx population dynamics, for an area which can regroup 10 counties (for example 35 lynx). Before, EPA decided for each county.

We can consider three big area in Sweden:

North: lynx is always hunted to prevent damage on reindeers

Middle:  lynx is regulated

South: No hunt

           

            The counties concerned organise a meeting and split the number between themselves, depending on the data of the last two years.

They split the number thanks to an excel program. It’s a scientific and reliable method.

Eliminate 100 lynx in a population of 1500 lynx is not a problem for its development; Grimsö Wildlife Research Center showed it.

Why the hunt of the lynx is allowed in Sweden?

            His status is the same than in all the other countries of European Union which signed the Berne Convention (REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION on the implementation of the Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of naturalhabitats and of wild fauna and flora,article 12 to 16)

            Sweden has exemption in this Convention which allowed the lynx hunting:

 “Bear and lynx are protected, apart from controlled hunting. Both are classified as vulnerable. The bear and lynx populations are steadily increasing despite hunting. Currently there are 1,000-1,300 bears and 1,000-1,500 lynx […] As mentioned earlier, derogations from the protection regulations have been granted for some species (beaver, wolverine, bear and lynx) in order to prevent damage.”

Who is allowed to hunt a lynx? What’s the numbers of hunters in Sweden?

If you get the licence, you are allowed to hunt lynx.

There are about 350 000 hunters organized in Sweden (they are 9 088 728 hab. in Sweden)

• Damages

            Do farmers can shoot a lynx to defend his livestock or himself?

       Farmers can shout a lynx to protect their herd or himself, but it’s a different case than the hunt, it’s a case of self defence but it’s really rare that a lynx attack a herd and a lynx never attack humans.

      They are not allowed to settle traps to catch them because it can provoke hurts on the animal, it’s valid for all animals.

            Do farmers receive compensations if a lynx attacks their livestock?

            There are a lot of sheep farm in Uppland but attacks are really rare because lynx find preys they need.

            This is the County administrative which is in charge to pay compensations. They don’t compensate the stress of the herd: most of time it’s impossible to link the attack of a predator with the stress, there are too many factors. They compensate the animals which are killed or hurt. It could be about 2500Kr (about 275€) for example for a sheep female. It can be more if the race of the sheep is rare and less if this is a young one. They compensate the animal or the veterinary intervention also for hunter dogs which could be attacked.

 

            They give as well the money the farmer needs to set up the electric fences. It has to set up in a very special way and it could be used for 20 years.

Some farmers use these electric fence (with very strong electricity) but it’s more effective on the wolf and on the bears than on the lynx: lynx are able to jump over the fence very easily. It solves the situation very fast and it’s very effective but on wolves and bears.

A protection dog is used sometimes. There are two in Uppsala län but it’s to prevent wolf attack, not lynx attack.

Two types of electric fences:

 Lynx are able to jump over the fence very easily :

Source photo : KORA

Who’s in charge to check the sheep and confirm that this is a lynx attack or not?

            Trained personal go to the farm. It’s up to the County administrative to check the body and come to a conclusion. Farmers have to call C.A. if they want to receive compensations.

Which kind of damage do you see when there is a case of lynx attack on livestock?

        Often this is an individual problem because most of lynx don’t attack sheep herd, they are too shy. There was a case of a farmer who had livestock of deers with high fence, it was for hunting and for meat (60 or 70 deer in an area of 10km² approximately).

       CA gave him 4 permissions to eliminate the lynx in one year but the problem persisted. CA decided to do the work for him and organized hunting.

• Conclusion

            The case of Sweden can sound paradoxical in a context where the lynx is protected specie but the hunt they practise is based on scientific method and seriously regulated and monitored.

            The goal of this hunt is to prevent damage on agriculture but also to preserve the lynx population in a level that can permit to them to survive in a long term and, in the same time preserve their preys with a high number, like deer and reindeer.

           

             In addition, the census period of 2010-2011 showed that the population increased significantly. Currently, the population of lynx in Sweden is about 1 500 individuals.

The sheep industry in Franche-Comté: presentation and interaction with the lynx

Franche-Comté is a region of eastern France, next to Switzerland :

In Franche-Comté, the presence of the lynx is sometimes a problem because it can cause damage on sheep farm. It seemed appropriate to make a point on the sheep industry in this region and identify the role of the Chamber of Agriculture for farmers affected by lynx :

Meeting with Yoan AGUER

Yoan is a facilitor and is responsible for missions in the sheep sector at the Regional Chamber of Agriculture of Franche-Comté.

The case of the Franche-Comté is special because there are few sheep farms compared to cattle farms. Thus, Yoan Aguer fills many diverse roles.

1) The different roles of Yoan :

• He develops and coordinates the actions of the sheep industry :

   Meeting between agricultural cooperatives, unions sheep and sheep inter-professions to discuss the issues of the sheep sector and implement an action program for the year.

• He leads :
  
  • The union for the promotion of sheep and its products at public fairs for example.
  
  
  • The inter-professional sheep: two types of actions are undertaken. The first round is the communication with young people in agricultural education (presentation of the sector, courses, organization of Ovinpiades (see cons below). The second round is the promotion of lamb, for example thanks to the action "Agneau presto" ("Lamb presto"), result of an alliance Ireland-France-Great Britain. People consume little lamb so new products are developed to attract this clientele.
  
  
  • The Ovinpiades young shepherds. They take place on a regional and national event (2 winners go to Paris at "le Salon de l'Agriculture" ). Then there is a European final and a world one (respectively in Ireland and New Zealand for the 2011 edition). This event helps attract young people and raise people about the sector.

      The Chamber gives its support to the cooperatives in their restructuring. In 2011 for example, the Cooperative Franche-Comte Animals (industry both equine and sheep) will merge with the Cooperative Breeding Franche-Comté.

The sheep industry also organizes training for farmers and disseminates technical and economic references to the farmer so that he can compare his figures to his region.

The Regional Coordinator can also make a link between the national and the industry.

2) Some figures in Franche-Comté

120 farms with less than 50 to 100 ewes
240 farms with more than 50 sheeps
60% of the herd is located in the "Haute-Saône"
59% of the OTEX * are cattle against 2% of sheep and goats
No AOC for the sheep industry (there is specially the presence of AOC** cheese such as Comté and Morbier)

3) The actions of the Chamber of Agriculture in relation to lynx

• Reminder : protection law of the Lynx lynx

      On September 19, 1979, several European countries (including France and Sweden) signed the Berne Convention. Annex 2 establishes that the European lynx is now a strictly protected species (before the convention, the lynx was rated only "species not strictly protected" and a regulatory policy could be applied). The Convention applies to all signatory countries.

Spain has set conditions depending on the region where the animal was, contrary to France.

• In the case of lynx attacks :

 - they begin discussions with the farmer to implement solutions
 - they support the farmer in his dealings with the DDT (Departmental Agency of Territories)
 - they send him the exact current laws
 - they help him to set up protective devices

       In 2008: 15 farmers were registered for the "sheep dog formation" but only 6 breeders were present.

      These facts do not encourage the industry which is already fragile.
      Although the Health Check of the CAP permited to improve the income of farmers in the average of other productions, requests to set up a farm are scarce.
      The sheep often values ​​the areas with low potential, neglected by other productions.
Breeders have important role in the maintenance of the countryside and this is to consider!

      Those who own small herds have other concerns and other characteristics: they are sometimes GAEC with dairy cows and have introduced a small flock of sheep to get more milk quotas.
Some have a herd of 50 to 100 sheep, sometimes less, and have another job. It is rather this profile that is brought to disappear if a lynx complicates the organization of farming in place.
      These people do not necessarily mobilize the same means of protection that a farmer whose income depends on the flock of sheep.
      In the "Doubs", compared to France, there is a high proportion of farms of less than 80 ewes while the concentration of resources is focused on farms of more than 80 sheep, eligible for technical support (in France, this corresponds to ¾ breeders).

      An average of 50 observations of attacks by lynx are made each year in the region of Franche-Comté (46 in 2009). There is unique and timely attacks or outbreaks of attacks (there is even a phenomenon of specialization of the lynx in some places).
In the latter case, the effectiveness of solutions implemented will depend on the effectiveness of guard dogs, the control of the farmer (if he has the impression of having or not having protection solutions made ) ...
We have to adapt to the structure of exploitation, the distribution of herds on the different grassland area.

      Direct damage (death of the animal and injuries) can be quantified but the indirect damage is more difficult to identified (stress, abortion ...)
The compensation will depend on the high genetic value of the herd or if it is registered as good quality. There is a schedule of compensation:
80c/animal part of the herd attacked by a wolf
76c/animal part of the herd attacked by lynx

      In the case of an attack, the lynx can cause abortions and refer the lambing period.
This delay can have serious consequences, especially in the case of farmers selling to a butcher who is expecting a steady supply.      In the case of small herds where the sustainability of the operation is in question, repeated attacks by lynx encourage farmers out of business. Like the theft of animals as an incentive to stop.
The lynx is not the sole reason, it's part of a whole.

My opinion
      Here we see the complexity of the problem: I agree for the conservation of the lynx but it induces many provisions to protect also the livelihood of some farmers sadly known to be hotbeds of the lynx attacks.
The sheep industry is fragile in Franche-Comté but has significant assets to attract the younger generation. Lynx must not deter them.
The research for protective devices on herds should continue through field experiments.

Learn more about the sheep industry in Franche-Comte: click here
* OTEX: Tecnical and Economic Orientation of Farm
** AOC: a designation of controlled origin

Example of a livestock attacked by lynx in Jura (Eastern of France)

Parcel protected by Emma, a female guard dog

Alain Revil owns 400 sheeps in Mirebel (Jura) and for him, farming is the only source of income.

All his plots are both next to houses (of Bonnefontaine or of Mirebel) and both next to the edge of the forest.

« We are in the Jura and the forest is obviously very dominant » he says, « despite the proximity of houses, this does not prevent the lynx from approaching animals and attack them. »

During the year 2011, Alain Revil suffered 18 attacks of lynx of which 15 since september. He does not count anymore the observation sheet of attacks completed by the ONCFS (National Hunting and Wildlife Agency).
There is specially problems on one of the plot : it has an aera of 10ha (= 100 000m2), is in the woods and was the best place for lynx attacks this year.

When there is an attack, Alain Revil contact the National Guard of the ONCFS.

These:

-  note the class of the sheep that depends on age, sex…

-  complete the observation sheet and raise the animal's throat's skin soulèvent to see the bite marks

- if there is any doubt, indemnisation may change

- the indemnisation may vary depending on the flock-book (studbook for sheep and goats in race) of the animal

0 to 6 months : 99€

6 to 12 months : 121€

Implemented solutions to these attacks

Alain Revil was the first to receive for one year as an experiment, a three years-old sheep dog : Domino. When Alain Revil resumed the farm in 2009, the breeder had undergone previous ten attacks. The association "Pôle Grands Prédateurs" (Pole Large Predators) came to propose the establishment of a sheep dog.

« I was pretty skeptical.In the region where I come from (Dauphiné-Alpes), these dogs become aggressive after a wolves attack, no one can approach them anymore...», Alain Revil says.

         Today, Alain Revil could no longer do without sheep dog. Emma, female Pyrenean Mountain Dog, watch right now on one of the herds.

No sheep dog's attack on passers has been identified in the Jura up to now. The sheep dog is not prepared for attacking, but for deterrence. If an intruder approaches the herd, it barks and comes between the intruder and the herd.

Emma devant l'enclos

The herd takes a few days to get used to the dog's presence, but soon, a link is created. Sheep are much like the dog's family, it is part of the herd.

Other experiments on protective measures have been carried out, due to a budget of 8 000€ :

- Safety net

- Electrified wire fencing

- Enterprise clearing

But sometimes, all these measures are still not sufficient to deter the lynx.
There were two attacks last spring (2011) in a herd where was installed a safety net and a sheep dog, on the famous plot of 10ha.

In sheep, the herd is divided into four troops:

- breeding

- rams

- lambs

- young males

And one last herd with the reforms. Otherwise, it is this herd that Alain put ont on the parcel at risk.

The farmer feels powerless and would like things are moving. Facing the new context of the arrival of the lynx, he believes that compensation should adapt to situations like his, called "center of attacks"

To be continued…

Meeting of Raphaël FARRUGIA - October 6th 2011

Breeder sheep in Bonnefontaine (Jura - France)

Livestock called "L'agneau de nos contrées" (The lamb of our country)

Raphael FARRUGIA has a sheep and mainly produces meat. He settled in recent years in Bonnefontaine and suffered for the first time a lynx attack on his flock last spring.

The farmer permits me to get a first overview of the steps a farmer has to do when is attacked:

       When Raphael found a dead sheep on one of his plots, he contacted ONCFS (National Hunting and Wildlife Agency): an agent then went on site to demonstrate the attack: photos are taken and a report is completed objectively.
       Raphael said that, in the case of his farm, one attack does not have much influence: for him it's part of the vagaries of farming and has no significant impact on income.
       In addition, if the attack is proven, the farmer receives an indemnity for each animal killed in compensation. In my research, I learned that the amount of compensation depends on the characteristics of the animal's genetic, age, or if the sheep is full or not.

        To set up a patou (sheeper dog) in such a breeding wouldn’t make sense because it would not be profitable for Raphael (he has very few attacks). Most of his plots are far from the edge of the forest and close to homes.

Parcel near the forest in Bonnefontaine
 

        Around Bonnefontaine, it would be a young lynx which comes regularly in the commons. A snapshot of this lynx was made by the ONCFS with a camera trap placed next to the remains of the sheep [the lynx does not devour its prey at once but gradually, starting with the sides]. It can be observed also on snapshots, a fox came to take a part of the prey left by lynx.

In the case of the raising of Raphael, the lynx is not a concern because it brings little damage to the breeder but when the lynx attacked repeatedly in a herd, it becomes more complex.

This is for example the case of Alain Revil, breeder and also to Bonnefontaine I meet tomorrow (Tuesday, October 11).

To be continued...

Next Article: Meeting with Yoann Aguer, Chamber of Agriculture of Franche-Comté.