The Canada Lynx, with its characteristic silver-brown coat and tuffed ears, is coming face to face with the threat of extinction – at least in the woods of Maine. The population of this North American mammal, which can be found in Canada, Alaska and some parts of Northern U.S., is quickly declining due to environmental changes taking place in their habitat. In an effort to fight back, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is teaming up with private landowners to recreate the habitat the Canada Lynx needs in order to hunt and prosper.
WHY THE CANADA LYNX IS FACING A SERIOUS DECLINE
According to Pulse Headlines, there is actually an atypically large amount of Canada Lynx in Maine – estimated guesses round off to about 500 to 1,000 thick-furred cats. This number is largely due to an outbreak of spruce budworm, which caused a massive clearance of the woods in the 1970s and 1980s. Following this event, spruce and fir began to surface, becoming the ideal feeding ground for the Lynx’s biggest prey, the snowshoe hare.
Since then, the practice of clear-cutting has been tightly regulated, and as such, the forests are now maturing. The Canada Lynx, in turn, is also losing its largest food source. In fact, at the current rate of loss, the state could lose up to 60 percent of lynx in 14 years, stated Scott Joachim, a forester.
HOW WILL THE CANADA LYNX MAKE A COMEBACK?
To combat this decline, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with four large property owners, who manage around 600,000 acres, in a joint effort to preserve the habitat and artificially recreate the patches of “young spruce-and-fir” forests so vital to the snowhares.
In the meantime, the federal government is also simultaneously working on a database and route map to identify potential threats and to continue to improve the habitat for the lynx population across 48 states; of vital importance are habitats in Maine, Wyoming, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Minnesota. After doing so, the government will announce whether or not a formal recovery plan is needed.
FIGHT FOR THE POPULATION OF CANADA LYNX SO WE CAN ENJOY SEEING THEM AT HOME:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD63kwQuZ2I
Canada Lynx Faces Population Threats in Maine
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