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Counting and tracking the lynx
More than 55 thousand wild animals live in Albania today, but of that number only 1 lynx has been recorded in the inventory. Classified as at risk of extinction, the lynx now represents only 0.002 per cent of all the animals that have been inventoried in Albanian territory. The data comes from the National Agency of Protected Areas (AKZM), but environmentalists believe there may be between 10 and 20 individuals of this species native to the Balkan region in our country.
Nevertheless, uncontrolled hunting, massive deforestation and the absence of a long-term political direction on environmental issues make the outlook for the lynx pessimistic.
The only lynx recorded in the inventory appears to be an individual in Nikaj-Mërtur Regional Park in Tropoja, photographed by camera trap first in April 2016 and again in November 2017 by PPNEA (Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania). Together with similar organisations in Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo, PPNEA has been coordinating the lynx recovery programme for our country for more than 10 years. Over the past year it has managed to install a box trap to capture a lynx and fit it with a satellite tracker, which would help the researchers better understand the lynx’s territorial range in Albania.
PPNEA first photographed a lynx with a camera trap in 2011. The image was captured on Mount Munella, on the border between Puka and Mirdita. Around 4–6 individuals are thought to live in precisely this area.
In 2015, PPNEA reported finding a dead lynx on Munella. The photograph published by the organisation provoked reactions because it came during the period of the hunting ban. Despite the widespread anger among nature lovers, the finding confirmed environmentalists’ claims that breeding individuals were present in the area, because the dead lynx was young.
Mount Munella and habitat protection
Considered “the lynx’s last refuge in Albania”, Mount Munella has long been proposed for designation as a national park. Environmentalists believe that legally protecting the area would help prolong the survival of this species.
Meanwhile, Shebenik–Jabllanica Park in Librazhd is also thought to provide lynx habitat.
But why is the Mount Munella area not declared a national park? One objection to the park proposal is that the area is rich in copper ore and could generate substantial sums of money if properly exploited. But during the long transition period, the country’s mining sector entered a full-blown crisis.
Government officials have seen concessions as the only alternative for resolving this situation, while investment in rehabilitating the area, particularly from massive deforestation and erosion, has been zero.
Hunting, food and deforestation
And why is the lynx disappearing? In 1950, 86 lynx were counted in Albania, but just 50 years later, 70% of that population had disappeared. In 2000, the General Directorate of Forests and Pastures (DPPK) reported a total of 26 individuals, clearly demonstrating the danger facing the species.
AKZM specialists have questioned the figures declared in the past, arguing that the inventory methodology was not at all professional. Nevertheless, AKZM’s 2017 inventory recorded only one individual, ultimately classifying the lynx as potentially at risk of extinction.
Of course, the figures from that time may not be accurate, but they still indicate the trend and make the dynamics of the situation easier to understand.
The lynx, one of the Balkan region’s most iconic animals, feeds mainly on the young of cloven-hoofed animals such as roe deer, chamois and wild boar, but also on various birds and on rabbits and rodents such as mice, squirrels and so on. The fact is that these animals too have declined considerably in Albania over the years, which logically also explains the lynx’s disappearance. Uncontrolled hunting is among the main causes.
According to DPPK data for 1950–2000, some of these animals underwent a frightening decline. For example, the roe deer population fell by more than 80%, from 4300 in 1950 to 470 individuals in 2000. 17 years later, AKZM reported just 102 roe deer in its inventory.
So around 97% of this species has disappeared from our country. This has, unsurprisingly, also affected the lynx population.
Another of the strongest reasons for the disappearance of this rare animal is deforestation.
According to the World Bank, Albania had 7824 square kilometres of forest in 2005. Ten years later, the country was said to have 109 square kilometres less.
With the loss of so much forest and animal diversity, lynx habitats have therefore been drastically reduced. Even the last remaining habitat, the Mount Munella area, is threatened by the failure to approve the plan to make it a national park and by the absence of a clear plan to restore the area.
* This article was reviewed and corrected on 9 October 2026.