Last week, 30 and 31 May 2019, we rounded off the educational activities for the schoolchildren of the primary schools in the Municipality of Mavrovo and Rostushe. Educational activities, implemented by representatives from the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES) and Mavrovo National Park, began in March, with a series of lectures about the Balkan lynx. The third, final part of education included field activities, as part of their outdoor education. This presented an unusual opportunity for schoolchildren from the villages of Zhirovnica, Rostushe, Trebishte and Velebrdo to get familiar with the methodology and means of conducting research about the Balkan lynx. In that respect, together with first-to-fifth-grade schoolchildren we visited the local forest, followed wildlife trails, imitated wild animals to see the use of camera traps, and also used radio-telemetry to search for the “lynx” schoolchildren.
Lynx education represents part of the Education Strategy of the Balkan Lynx Recovery Programme. The education package in primary schools had its inception ever since 2015, whereas so far a total of 1,500 schoolchildren have been included.
