As one of the most elusive cats of Iran, the lynx has been rarely studied in the country and data about its distribution and status was awfully scarce. Accordingly, a joint program between the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) and Iranian Department of Environment (DOE) was initiated in 2007 to study the species status across the country.
Meanwhile, the survey was suported by the IUCN/Cat Specialist Group via training Ehsan Moqanaki who is leading the program in KORA center, Switzerland. Based on status assessment of the lynx in the country, a reserve in western country was selected where is supposed to have an appropriate population and habitat condition to launch the first ecological research as a pilot site. After initial field investigations, camera traps were deployed to find the lynx trails and game guards were trained with respect to lynx ecology and field surveys techniques. The draft of the lynx status assessment in Iran has been finished and is going to be published soon.
Eurasian lynx on wild sheep kill in Anguran Wildlife Refuge, western Iran (
