France’s elusive wildcats could disappear in 30 years

Conservationists in Europe are warning that a population of Eurasian lynx will disappear from France if action is not taken. These elusive wildcats live in the Jura Mountains, a mountain range in eastern France on the border with Switzerland.

After disappearing entirely from France in the 18th century, the wildcats were reintroduced to Switzerland during the 1970s and lynxes moved across the border into France by the end of the decade. A genetic study published February 13 in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science finds that this population needs help and could go extinct…