Vets take action to save Poland's lynx

Eurasian lynx kitten. File picture

Image by: Bernard Landgraf / Wikimedia commons

Growling furiously, Benek the lynx cub looks up with baleful eyes as a veterinarian squats by his cage and takes aim with a tranquiliser gun.

"It'll take a half hour to knock him out," says Jakub Kotowicz, vice-president of the Rehabilitation Centre for Protected Animals in Przemysl, southeastern Poland.

The feline snarls as the dart strikes its haunch, but minutes later is toying kitten-like with another pink, fluffy-tailed missile which went off target.

"If he was a bear, we'd need a whole night to get him under," jokes the centre's head Radoslaw Fedaczynski.

Eradicated from much of Europe 150 years ago, lynx still roam the continent's forested north and east.

Europe's population of Eurasian lynx is estimated at 7,500 to 8,000 -- excluding those in Russia -- with the bulk found in Romania, Scandinavia and the Baltic states.

An estimated 200 of the solitary wildcats live in Poland, mostly clustered near the northeastern borders with Belarus, Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad territory and in the southern Carpathian Mountains, Benek's home turf.

The Eurasian lynx is in far better shape than its critically-endangered Spanish and Portuguese cousin the Iberian lynx, about 100 of which remain in the wild.

But life isn't easy and Benek -- Polish for "Benny" -- is lucky.

After becoming separated from his mother, and too young to hunt game properly, he emerged from the forest.

Locals called the care centre after finding him just before Christmas in Bircza, a village 27 kilometres (17 miles) from Przemysl.

"He was trying to catch chickens from the region's farms but got chased up a tree by some dogs. When we found him, he was starving, exhausted and needed our help," said Andrzej Fedaczynski, 52, who with his son Radoslaw runs the regular veterinary practice doubling as a voluntary care centre for wild animals.

Benek has been getting the best care possible: shots, glucose and medication to boost his metabolism.

He's the fifth lynx to have passed through in three years.

"We don't want to be a lynx sanctuary. Our goal is to get them back to the wild," said Radoslaw. "They have an excellent instinct for self-preservation."

The tranquilised Benek is carried limp-limbed from the isolated cage where he is being kept to stop him getting used to humans, past a domestic cat about to be seen by a vet. It freezes in its owners lap.

"He weighed much less than he should, so we can't use his weight to determine his age. But size and external appearance tell us he's between six and 12 months old," said Kotowicz.

"It's hard to say when we'll be able to let him go. For now he's too weak. We only have 200 lynx in Poland, so each one is very valuable for the local ecosystem. We have to be 100 percent sure he'll cope in the wild," he added.

Benek is regaining his appetite for a normal lynx diet of deer and smaller game.

But if he reaches his third birthday -- and sexual maturity -- he will be an exception.

"Only one in four lynx actually make it to sexual maturity," according to Urs Breitenmoser of the Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature.

"It's a balance between different odds," he told AFP in a telephone interview.

Hunted, often by the ruling elite, until the fall of Poland's communist regime in 1989, lynx have since enjoyed legal protection.

But Krzysztof Schmidt of Poland's Mammal Research Institute insists the threats are still manifold here.

Shrinking forests have restricted their territory, and the thinning of woodlands makes it harder for lynx to stalk or hide out to rest, he said.

"Then there's the development of road networks in terms of further habitat fragmentation, roadkills to a lesser extent, and poaching, although that's not very significant," he added.

"Overall, I don't think it's a paradise for lynx. However, they're still lucky here," he said.

Schmidt contrasted Poland with the Baltic state of Estonia, home to around 800 lynx, between 80 and 180 of which are hunted annually for fur and skull trophies under a legal quota.

There is good news for some of those felines: plans are underway to use up to 40 Estonian lynx to repopulate the forest wilderness of northeast Poland's Mazuria region.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2012/01/31/vets-take-action-to-save-poland-s-lynx

Suffolk kingfisher migrated from Poland

Record breaking kingfisher found in Suffolk
October 2011. A kingfisher found at the National Trust's Orford Ness Nature Reserve on the Suffolk coast looks likely to have broken the UK record for furthest migration of the species.

The kingfisher was caught and released by members of Landguard Bird Observatory as part of their routine bird ringing studies at the site and is thought to have travelled in excess of 1,000km from Poland.

This breaks the previous record set by a British kingfisher which was ringed in Marloes, Pembrokeshire, and found in Irun, Spain, having travelled around 970km. It is also the most easterly discovery in the UK, with other foreign recoveries coming from France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.

Mike Marsh, Volunteer Ringer for the Landguard Bird Observatory, said: "We catch a small number of kingfishers each year at Orford Ness, usually in the autumn, and previously assumed that these had been dispersing juveniles of fairly local origin.

"This will be one of the longest migrations among the kingfishers in the ringing database and we can't wait to get confirmation of the record from the British Trust for Ornithology and hear about the Polish ringing scheme."

A few migrate
Kingfishers are a resident breeding species in the UK but each year a small number migrate here from the continent, probably moving away from places with prolonged freezing conditions in the winter.

The last kingfisher ringed from abroad and found in the UK was on 29 October 2008 and had travelled 819km from Aken in Germany.

Grant Lohoar, Orford Ness site manager for the National Trust, said: "This is a great record for us, but something we wouldn't have known about if this bird hadn't been ringed, thanks to our expert volunteers. This highlights the importance of ringing as a tool for conservation which allows us to identify birds as individuals. Orford Ness is a really important stop-over site for many migrating birds, as they can refuel and rest on the marshes, in the reedbeds or on the many lagoons we have here."

Kingfishers are generally found near still or slow flowing water on perches from where they hunt, commonly swooping down to the water to catch small fish such as minnow and stickleback.

The longest lived kingfisher according to ringing recoveries is four years, six months and 13 days, which was set in 1969.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/kingfisher-migration.html

Kidnapped dog finds its way home

A Polish woman could not believe her eyes when her pet dog found its way home - after being dognapped 30 miles away.

Edyta Kowalska, 44, from Sochaczew, had gone to the capital Warsaw for the day with her two-year-old Dachshund, Cherry.

But as they walked down the road a car suddenly pulled up and three masked men jumped out. The trio bundled the dog inside a car and sped off.

"It was terrifying. They leapt out of their car and ran over towards me. I thought they were going to attack me, but instead they grabbed Cherry, jumped back in the car and drove off," said Edyta.

"I went to the police and filed a report, but I don't think they took it very seriously.

"But I was beside myself with grief, and just couldn't understand why they had taken Cherry and what they would do to her."

For five days, Edyta fretted until she looked out of her kitchen window to see Cherry trotting up the garden path.

"I couldn't believe it. She was a bit thin and bedraggled, but she had made it home," she said.

"I'll never know what happened and why they took her, but now she's back and that's all that matters."

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Kidnapped_dog_finds_its_way_home

Thief demands £1m ransom for boy's cat

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Thief_demands_1m_ransom_for_boys_cat

A cat burglar who broke into a home and stole a schoolboy's pet cat has demanded a £1 million ransom for its safe return. Caesar is a rare Mekong Bobtail cat but its owner - 12-year-old Dawid Kisielewski - says the pet is not worth more than £500.

Caesar was nabbed last month from the youngster's home in Myslowice, Poland. Dawid had almost given up hope after putting up posters all over town, when the family suddenly got the mysterious ransom phone call.

"He has been beside himself with worry - he loved Caesar," said mum Jolanta, 40.

The family said it had received a phone call from a man saying he had the cat and would return it safely for £1m. Jolanta added: "He must be a raving madman. We don't have that sort of money - and besides, the cat is only worth £500. We have no idea what to do as we can't afford to pay it, but if we don't Dawid will be broken hearted."

Now police say they will do all they can to find the cat-napper.

"Someone who demands a ransom for the misappropriation of property belonging to another can get three years imprisonment," said police spokesman Ryszard Padua. "We will find this ridiculous man and make sure he gets the full sentence."

Six foot long snake discovered in toilet in Poland

A 73-year-old Polish pensioner was shocked to find a 6.5-foot-long anaconda peering up out of her toilet bowl on Monday in her flat in Wroclaw, south-west Poland, local police said.

Published: 9:23PM BST 20 Sep 2010

"After she raised the lid of the toilet seat, the lady saw a huge snake that wanted to slither out of the toilet bowl.

"She immediately slammed down the toilet lid and called us," Pawel Petrykowski, a Wroclaw police spokesman, told AFP.

"She was certainly very frightened but managed to keep her wits about her," he said.

After arriving on the scene, police and an employee from the local zoo managed to catch the reptile, which is native to South America.

"It must have somehow got into the toilet bowl via the plumbing pipes," Mr Petrykowski said.

While the anaconda was taken to the zoo, police launched an investigation aimed at identifying its owner.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8014470/Six-foot-long-snake-discovered-in-toilet-in-Poland.html

Six foot long snake discovered in toilet in Poland

A 73-year-old Polish pensioner was shocked to find a 6.5-foot-long anaconda peering up out of her toilet bowl on Monday in her flat in Wroclaw, south-west Poland, local police said.

Published: 9:23PM BST 20 Sep 2010

"After she raised the lid of the toilet seat, the lady saw a huge snake that wanted to slither out of the toilet bowl.

"She immediately slammed down the toilet lid and called us," Pawel Petrykowski, a Wroclaw police spokesman, told AFP.

"She was certainly very frightened but managed to keep her wits about her," he said.

After arriving on the scene, police and an employee from the local zoo managed to catch the reptile, which is native to South America.

"It must have somehow got into the toilet bowl via the plumbing pipes," Mr Petrykowski said.

While the anaconda was taken to the zoo, police launched an investigation aimed at identifying its owner.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8014470/Six-foot-long-snake-discovered-in-toilet-in-Poland.html

Beavers responsible for Poland's flooding

Beavers are partly to blame for the devastating floods that have swept Poland killing 15 people because the animals tunnel through vital defences protecting the cities, the interior minister has said.

The greatest enemy of the flood defences is an animal called the beaver. They live everywhere along the levees on the Vistula (river) and cause a lot of damage to them," Jerzy Miller said.


An estimated 50,000 of the large, mostly nocturnal, semi-aquatic rodents live in Poland where they enjoy a degree of protection, animal welfare services say.

However, local authorities have upped hunting quotas for the animals in the wake of the floods.


"Beavers dig tunnels in the flood defences, weakening them from inside. But they are not alone, there are also water voles," Pawel Fratczak, Poland's national fire brigade spokesman said.

Torrential rain in Poland's mountainous south have caused rivers, including the Vistula, Poland's largest, swell to levels unseen in more than a century.

Flood defences have already given way near the southeastern town of Sandomierz and in Plock, central Poland, causing flooding in several locations in those regions.

Thousands have been evacuated across the country, but according to Mr Fratczak thousands more have refused to leave their homes regardless of the risk posed by rising flood waters.

Forecasters predicted intermittent rain and storms across Poland until the middle of the week as the flood crest moves north on the Vistula and the Oder among others.

Poland's government has pledged two billion zloty (£412 million) in aid for people who lost their homes to rising waters.

Last week, Tusk said the cost of the flood damage could reach 10 billion zloty.

In 1997, Poland suffered its worst flooding in centuries which killed 54 people, caused billions of dollars in damage and forced the evacuation of over 150,000 people.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/