Every year, in autumn and winter (in fact, from the start of the hunting season), there are media reports of lynx entering into populated areas in Russia. As a rule, these are adolescent orphaned animals. They are not able to look after themselves and feed independently in winter and are on the lookout for easy prey such as domestic cats and dogs and this leads to conflict with humans.
Twenty lynx came into populated areas in autumn-winter 2019 — 2020.
It is impossible to release these animals straight into the wild, even once they have had a veterinary inspection, for they simply would not survive. Consequently, they have to come to the Centre where they can be observed and supported as they prepare for release into the wild.