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Funding: This article is a contribution of the COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative, which is funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF9881) and the National Geographic Society (NGS-82515R-20) (both grants to C.R.). COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020 reduced human mobility, providing an opportunity to disentangle its effects on animals from those of landscape modifications. Using GPS data, we compared movements and road avoidance of 2300 terrestrial mammals (43 species) during the lockdowns to the same period in 2019. Individual responses were variable with no change in average movements or road avoidance behavior, likely due to variable lockdown conditions. However, under strict lockdowns 10-day 95th percentile displacements increased by 73%, suggesting increased landscape permeability. Animals’ 1-hour 95th percentile displacements declined by 12% and animals were 36% closer to roads in areas of high human footprint, indicating reduced avoidance during lockdowns. Overall, lockdowns rapidly altered some spatial behaviors, highlighting variable but substantial impacts of human mobility on wildlife worldwide. Postprint

Health risk assessment should be of primary importance in reintroduction and repopulation project, as diseases may decrease the fitness of translocated animals and threaten the receiving population. Thus, rigorous protocol was implemented in LIFE Lynx project (LIFE16 NAT/SI/000634) during translocation of Eurasian lynxes (Lynx lynx) from Slovakia and Romania to Croatia and Slovenia. In 2019 – 2021 period 12 free-living adult lynxes (9 males, 3 females) were captured and one male was included in the project after rehabilitation due to the leg injury. After chemical immobilization captured animals were examined by a veterinarian ; blood, faeces and mucosa swabs were collected, rabies vaccination was administered, and animals were transported to the quarantine. Samples were tested for Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV), panleukopenia virus (FPV), Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) and feline herspesvirus‐1 (FHV‐1) by PCR ; and genetic testing were done to exclude closely related animals. Protocol defined that animals younger than 1 and older than 12 years ; FeLV and FIV positive animals will not be translocated, while injured or animals showing signs of diseases will be individually evaluated. Thirty days after capturing rabies antibody titter was checked and all animals acquired necessary titration of at least 0.5 IU/ml. All captured animals showed no clinical signs of any disease, however two adult males from Romania were positive for FPV (15%). They were kept in the quarantine and tested weekly until shedding of the virus stopped and afterword transported to their destination. After the release health problems were not registered in any of the animals.

Od ljeta 2017. godine u Hrvatskoj, Sloveniji, Italiji, Slovačkoj i Rumunjskoj se provodi LIFE Lynx projekt „Spašavanje dinarske i jugoistočne alpske populacije risa od izumiranja” (LIFE16 NAT/SI/000634). U razdoblju 2019. – 2022. ukupno 10 odraslih mužjaka preseljeno je iz Slovačke i Rumunjske u hrvatski (5) i slovenski (5) dio Dinarida s ciljem zaustavljanja parenja u srodstvu. Kako bi se povezale populacije risa u Dinaridima i Alpama, 2021. godine na područje Gorenjske regije u Sloveniji su naseljene tri ženke i dva mužjaka. Uspješnost integracije naseljenih risova prati se telemetrijskim ogrlicama, fotozamkama te analizom DNA. Jedna od ženki ispuštenih u slovenske Alpe je imala mlade, te je potvrđeno preživljavanje jednog mladunca do subadultne dobi. U Dinaridima je analizom DNA i fotozamkama potvrđeno da je naseljeni ris Goru otac najmanje sedam mladunaca, dok se na temelju podataka s fotozamki pretpostavlja da su se još tri naseljena mužjaka razmnožila s lokalnim ženkama. Iako projekt još nije završio, možemo potvrditi da se većina naseljenih životinja integrira u populaciju što je pokazatelj da će repopulacija stvarno postići cilj zaustavljanja izumiranja risa u Dinaridima i jugoistočnim Alpama.

The main goal of the LIFE Lynx project (LIFE16 NAT/SI/000634) is preventing extinction of the Dinaric – Southeastern Alpine lynx population through reinforcement. Monitoring of the reinforcement process is fundamental in order to be able to fine-tune the process over the years and to choose and implement the optimal solutions for the upcoming lynx releases. It will be also essential in order to gain a good understanding of the process, upon which long-term lynx conservation strategy will be based, and to share experiences from our project with the broader expert community involved in lynx conservation efforts across the species range and potentially other felid species worldwide. Within the C.5 action, we are annually surveying the lynx population and impact of the reinforcement activities over its entire project range in Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia, using methods that allow us to assess its size, distribution, genetic structure, and several other important population and ecological parameters.

Prevention of the extinction of the Dinaric – Southeastern Alpine lynx population is the main goal of the LIFE Lynx project (LIFE16 NAT/SI/000634), within which we aim to increase genetic variability of the inbred Dinaric lynx population by translocating unrelated individuals from the Carpathian population. Individual's integration is considered successful if the animal survived at least one year after the release and established a territory in the area where a lynx of opposite sex is registered. In the period 2019 – 2021, we have released eight animals captured in Romania and Slovakia into the Dinaric Mountains. Four adult males were released in Slovenia and four males in Croatia. Released lynx are monitored with telemetry collars furnished with both Iridium or GSM and VHF technology. However, we lost track of two animals due to unknown reasons ; first after 8 months and the other 1 day after the release. Monitored animals settled on average 23 days (SD=16.5) after the release. Two lynx left their initial home range 102 and 92 days post-release and went on second dispersal. First settled approximately 2 months later, 64 km straight-line distance from his initial home range, while the other is still in the process of establishing a territory. Current data suggest that four lynx are successfully integrated into the existing Dinaric population. Successful integration cannot be confirmed for the other four animals, among which two disappeared after the signal from the collar was lost, and other two appear to be still in the process of establishing a territory.

The main goal of the LIFE Lynx project (LIFE16 NAT/SI/000634) is preventing extinction of the Dinaric – Southeastern Alpine lynx population through reinforcement. Monitoring of the reinforcement process is fundamental in order to be able to fine-tune the process over the years and to choose and implement the optimal solutions for the upcoming lynx releases. It will be also essential in order to gain a good understanding of the process, upon which long-term lynx conservation strategy will be based, and to share experiences from our project with the broader expert community involved in lynx conservation efforts acrossthe species range. Within the C.5 action, we are annually surveying the lynx population over its entire project range in Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia, using methods that allow us to assess its size, distribution, genetic structure, and several other important population and ecological parameters.

Globally, fragmented landscapes and anthropogenic pressures are causing steep declines in large carnivore populations. Conservation organizations are working to counteract these trends through the reintroduction of large carnivores and translocations within existing populations to promote gene flow and resilience. This study analyzes a dataset we gathered from 15 published papers and 11 unpublished conservation projects for a total of 26 programs involving 241 individ- ual animals across 5 continents. An overall success rate of 65% was shown for large carnivores, indicating an above average success rate when compared to other terrestrial vertebrates. Our anal- ysis shows that key choices, such as using soft releases, choosing younger animals, selecting unfenced release locations and sourcing wild born individuals can lead to a higher likelihood of success. While captive born individuals still fared worse than wild born individuals, they saw a 22% increase in success rates within the last 14 years compared to wild born individuals which saw their success rate grow by 10%. There was also a significant increase in the translocation and reintroduction success rates for all large carnivores over the last 14 years. Despite these optimistic success rates, only 43% of study subjects were observed demonstrating reproductive behavior. While this is likely an undercount, we caution the conflation of translocation and reintroduction success. As the UN Decade on ecosystem restoration gets underway, we hope this information can inform project coordinators and assist in achieving more desirable outcomes for large carni- vore translocations and reintroductions.

The project Status and Conservation of the Alpine Lynx Population SCALP is an ongoing programme aiming to coordinate the Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx monitoring, conservation and management activities in the Alps, but the monitoring approach has recently been expanded to the neighbouring Dinaric and Jura Mountains. The long-term goal of the SCALP is to help the still small and isolated reintroduced populations to expand and to recover in co-existence with people. The process is advanced and supervised by the SCALP Expert Group, which also prepares yearly distribution maps.

Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx was reintroduced to the Dinaric Mountains in 1973 to bring back an extinct autochthonous keystone species, but also to enrich the hunting grounds. The institutions involved in the reintroduction were aware of the danger of genetic isolation and warned about the importance of connectivity between the lynx populations in the Dinaric Mountains and the Western Alps for their long-term stability. Unfortunately, these populations never connected and the once thriving Dinaric population declined dramatically. Today, lynx in the Dinaric Mountains and the neighbouring south-eastern Alps are again on the brink of extinction. To prevent this, reinforcement of the population is currently taking place within an EU-funded “LIFE Lynx” project. While the main threat is indisputable – the population is highly inbred – the relative importance of the other factors causing the decline is still under debate, especially because the reintroduced lynx in the Dinaric Mountains was legally hunted for more than two decades. Here, we describe the most important historical events which enabled the lynx to recolonise Slovenia, Croatia, Northeastern Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and highlight the main management decisions that were made during the lynx population expansion. Since the hunters were the promotors of the reintroduction efforts but had also carried out all the hunting activities, we discuss also the relevance of hunting for the lynx population development in the region.

Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) individuals have unique coat patterns that enables researchers to identify individuals from photographs. This feature is useful in numerous ecological studies and camera traps became one of the most important tools for lynx research and monitoring. The aim of this study was to analyze how the choice of the camera trap model and its spatial-temporal arrangement affect the quality of lynx photographs for identification of individual animals. Research was conducted on 789 photographs that were taken in lynx natural habitat in Croatia and Slovenia in the period from 2007 to 2020. Twelve different camera trap models were used. Photographs were classified into three categories in terms of quality for identification. The following features were recorded for each photograph: photo trap manufacturer and model, date and time, location of camera trap (marking site, forest roads), flash type and whether it is used, focal length, ISO (sensitivity of digital camera sensor to light), resolution, speed trigger, aperture, length and width of the animal's body and body position (lateral or other position) on the photo, how much and what proportion of the body was photographed (length of the animal divided by the width of the photo in pixels), photo quality and color of the photo (color or black-white). Our analysis showed that photos taken at lynx marking sites had significantly better quality than those at forest roads, as it was possible to identify lynxes on 97.6% of the photos taken at marking sites (p

Evidence-based management of large carnivores is a crucial step towards their effective conservation. However, monitoring of these populations is demanding and generally requires substantial fieldwork effort. Lately, citizen science has become an increasingly important part of wildlife monitoring, but can that endanger studied species? In this paper, we describe our experiences with recruiting and involving volunteers in annual howling surveys of grey wolf (Canis lupus) population in Slovenia and present the framework about the use of citizens for collecting data. Huge effort of participants in a 7-year-long monitoring at a national scale has yielded a total of 116 wolf vocal responses, including 53 confirmed litters. Annually, between 5 and 12 reproductive packs were detected and an increasing trend in wolf population throughout the study period was observed. Volunteer-based howling surveys proved to be a cost-effective method for detection of reproductive packs on a large spatial scale, offering an insight into wolf population trends across a longer time period and we provide some recommendations for organisation and coordination of surveys. We also discuss ethical issues raised from our experience in using citizen science for this purpose.

In order to implement the goals and objectives of this ambitious project, it is imperative to develop a population-level reinforcement plan that reflects the current state of our scientific knowledge of lynx and the social and management processes necessary to follow the IUCN 2013 Guidelines for Reintroductions and Other Conservation Translocations (IUCN/SSN 2013). This plan follows the IUCN 2013 Guidelines and reflects lessons learned from past reintroduction efforts (Macdonald 2009, Wilson 2018).

We used non-invasive genetic sampling and camera trapping as main methodology to assess the demographic status of lynx in the Dinarics and SE Alps.

Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) was extirpated from the Northern Dinaric Mountains and South- Eastern Alps in the beginning of 20th century. However, in 1973 foresters and hunters in Slovenia reintroduced six (some of them closely-related) lynx from Slovakia to the Northern Dinaric Mountains. The reintro-duction was initially successful and the population and range of lynx increased and spread south to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) but remained isolated. The expansion towards the north was slower ; nevertheless lynx presence was documented in Italy and Austria during the 1980s. Since 1978 lynx were legally hunted in Slovenia, Croatia, and BIH. During the 1990s, lynx population size started decreasing and the range expansion stopped. Legal hunting declined and stopped by the ear-ly 2000s, but the population continued to decline. Genetic analyses revealed that the population was highly inbred and that the effective population size has dramatically decreased after the 1990s. There were all indications that without integration of new individuals, the population would collapse. In 2017, we started with the LIFE lynx project with the main aim to prevent the extinction of the Dinaric and South-Eastern Alps lynx population. The main goal of the project is to integrate fourteen lynx from the Carpathian lynx population of Romania and Slovakia and reinforce the Dinaric-SE Alpine population. This reinforcement is the first step to secure the existence of the population, while en-suring long-term viability will require connecting the Dinaric and South- Eastern Alps population with other lynx populations in Europe.

The project Status and Conservation of the Alpine Lynx Population (SCALP) is an ongoing programme aiming to co-ordinate the lynx monitoring, conservation and management activities in the Alps. The long-term goal of the SCALP is to help the still small and isolated populations to expand and to recov-er throughout the Alps in co-existence with people. The process is advanced and supervised by the SCALP Expert Group, which originally united lynx experts from all Alpine countries, but has recently been expanded to the Dinaric and Jura Mountains. We have gathered a lot of experience with monitoring an elusive species. The so-called “SCALP crite-ria”, which distinguish between “hard” and “soft” data, can help to raise awareness about the fact that false species identification may exist in many monitoring datasets, and thus improve population status assessments. The SCALP criteria had an outreach far beyond the Eurasian lynx and the Alps. It is however not only important to consider false positive data. Lynx detection probability varies in space and time. Therefore, we also have explored the possibility to produce distribution maps that take imperfect detection into account (i.e. occupancy). Regarding monitoring issues, we are far ad-vanced regarding distribution, but have only just started to address the “how many” question. Simi-lar to distributional data it is desirable to standardise also the interpretation of abundance estimates, which range from expert guestimates to robust estimates based on capture-recapture methods. At present, we are in the process of developing SCALP criteria for abundance estimates. Since its foundation in the early 1990s, SCALP experts have realized that merging the isolated lynx populations is vital for lynx conservation. Natural expansion is slow and therefore lynx translocation projects have been implemented starting in 2001 (LUNO), 2011 (Kalkalpen), 2014 (Friuli VG) and one planned for 2020 (Slovenian Alps). These projects all base on the “stepping-stone idea” that has been adapted to lynx conservation in the frame of SCALP. The basis for such a recovery strategy is the Pan-Alpine Conservation Strategy for lynx (PACS), produced by the SCALP expert group and adopted by the Standing Committee for the Berne Convention in 2001. Under the aspect of adaptive manage-ment, the PACS however needs an update to include new developments regarding progress of lynx, society and politics. The overall goal is to build up a viable population of this large carnivore that stretches across all the Alps and can be looked at in a metapopulation context, e.g. connectivity with neighbouring popula-tions. This goal can only be achieved through active management, as the present lynx occurrences are either too small and/or need to be genetically rehabilitated. Therefore, further translocations and reinforcements will be necessary. To assure the demographic and genetic rehabilitation of the Alpine metapopulation, a coordinated approach with a step-wise improvement in all small subpopu- lations is envisaged. The coordinated approach is not only necessary for monitoring and scientific issues, but also for achieving a consensus on management actions: translocations need to be fine-tuned between all partners and countries e.g. regarding timing, release site and origin of lynx for reinforcements and “stepping-stone releases”.

Population size estimate is often very high on management and conservation agendas for many wildlife populations. The best currently available tool to obtain this parameter is noninvasive genetic sampling paired with mark-recapture modelling, which is now routinely done in many populations. However, in large populations where a lot of samples must be obtained if any meaningful estimate is to be had, the analyses can be very expensive and time consuming, often delaying results that are critical for management. We used laboratory robotics and recently developed genotyping methods that utilize high-throughput sequencing (HTS) to speedup the analyses and decrease costs. In anintensive three-month transboundary effort in autumn of 2015, in collaboration with ~2500 volunteers, we collected 4687 samples over the entire bear range in Slovenia and Croatia. After ironing out specifics related to automation of DNA extraction and processing of big data, the analysis was completed in roughly nine months. Increased throughput and lower costs allowed us to analyze 4370 of the collected samples, 45.7% more than we budgeted for. The population size in both countries at the end of 2015, after yearly mortality and before reproduction, was 1392 bears (1247-1583 95% CI), and sex ratio 58.9% F : 41.1% M. Since noninvasive genetics is increasingly becoming the go-to method for estimating the size of bear populations, there is a need for this to become fast and cost-effective. In this first large-scale study using HTS we showed that genotyping using this approach provides a big step in that direction, and we managed to do it with transboundary cooperation of two countries. In addition, the benefit of obtaining genotypes at the DNA sequence level makes the data completely future- proof and transferable between laboratories. Considering the rapid advances in DNA sequencing technology we feel that this is how such studies will be done in the future, for a fraction of the current costs.

In Europe, large carnivore populations typically span national, state, and regional borders. This makes comprehensive and cooperative population management a challenge, despite this shared vision among many managers and researchers. Additionally, the historical differences in management approaches across countries furthers the obstacles to successful implementation of transboundary population-level management.The European Union’s LIFE Program supports efforts to improve transboundary conservation and management of wildlife. We offer preliminary results from an emerging project called LIFE DINALP BEAR that was supported by the EU and is designed to foster transboundary population management and conservation of brown bears. Initial cooperative efforts began during the proposal writing phase to the European Union’s LIFE Program and brought together brown bear experts from Austria, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia who had a history of working together. After the proposal was awarded in 2014, a series of workshop and strategic meetings were organized among partners over the next few years. The first strategic document that was produced by the partnership, Guidelines for Common Management of Brown Bear in the Alpine and Northern Dinaric Region, has support of the ministries of all four countries and is designed to be incorporated into national policy over time. A second document, Guidelines for Bear Intervention Groups, will standardize protocols for management teams to respond to bear damages and emergencies. And the third document, Protocol for Data Gathering, will help synergize important datasets on bear occurrence and distribution and will be housed in a common monitoring database. Moreover, during the process of development of the common management guidelines more countries approached and joined the team, working on the document. Guidelines were finished with the involvement of experts and decision-makers from all countries connected by the Alpine Convention and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This way (cooperation with B&H and Switzerland), the practice of common, population-level management of brown bear already outgrew the borders of the European Union.

Škoda, povzročena na domačih živalih, je ena glavnih težav pri ohranitvenem upravljanju z volkom (Canis lupus). Škodo se pogosto poskuša zmanjšati z odstrelom volkov. V pričujoči raziskavi smo analizirali učinke legalnega odstrela volkov na obseg škode v Sloveniji ter pripravili pregled podobnih raziskav iz tujine. V letih 1995-2009 je bilo legalno odstreljenih 51 volkov in zabeleženih 2221 primerov napadov volkov na domače živali. S statističnimi analizami nismo ugotovili nobenih vplivov odstrela volkov na višino škode. Učinkov odstrela ni bilo zaslediti niti tedaj, ko smo med seboj primerjali najbolj ekstremna leta. Naši rezultati se ujemajo z izsledki tujih raziskav, ki prav tako opozarjajo, da (v nasprotju s splošnim prepričanjem!) trajnostni lov volkov ni učinkovit ukrep za zmanjšanje škode. Odstrel postane učinkovit šele, če z njim iztrebimo celo populacijo ali odstranimo večino volkov iz večjega območja. Ker je škoda na drobnici v Sloveniji resen problem in ker odstrel volkov očitno nima želenega učinka, priporočamo, da se v prihodnje napori in sredstva osredotočijo v bolj učinkovite ukrepe. Livestock depredations are one of the main challenges in the management of thegrey wolf (Canis lupus) and culling of the wolves is a measure often used in an attempt to reduce damages. In the present study we analyzed effects of the legal wolf culling on livestock depredations in Slovenia and made a reviewof similar studies from other regions. 51 wolves were legally culled and2,221 attacks on livestock were recorded in Slovenia in 1995-2009. Our analysis did not show any effects of the culling on the number of depredationsduring the study period. No effects were detected even when the most extreme years were compared. Our results are in agreement with those fromother studies that showed that sustainable hunting of wolves is not an effective measure to reduce live-stock depredations. Wolf removal becomes efficient only when wolves are completely exterminated or when the majority ofwolves are removed from a large area. Because depredation of small live-stock in Slovenia presents a serious problem and since wolf culling does not seem to be efficient, we recommend that more attention and resources should be focused on more effective measures.

Posljednja dva desetljeća fotozamke su jedna od najčešće korištenih metoda za praćenje divljih životinja. Kretanje životinja aktivira senzor fotoaparata postavljenog u prirodu, pa divlje životinje mogu biti praćene neinvazivno, bez ljudske prisutnosti u staništu.Fotozamke suposebno korisne za praćenje vrsta koje žive povučeno od ljudi, te vrsta kod kojih jedinke na fotografijama možemo razlikovati na temelju tjelesnih obilježja. Jedinstveni uzorak krzna risa omogućuje nam identificiranje jedinki, ukoliko ih fotozamke fotografiraju s iste strane tijela. Budući da su risovi teritorjalne životinje, fotozamkama možemo utvrditi područje rasprostranjenosti populacije.Ako je gustoća postavljenih fotozamki dovoljno velika, možemo utvrditi i gustoću risje populacije te veličinu teritorija pojedine životinje. Pomoću fotozamki također možemo pratiti uspješnost razmnožavanja, što nam je posebno vrijedan podatak za ugrožene populacije, kao što su to risovi koji žive u Dinaridima i jugoistočnim Alpama.