The missing lynx: how the rise of border walls has split up wildlife populations
In an age of growing hostility to migrants, there are 10 times more barriers on borders than when the Berlin Wall fell. But as well as the human cost, animals are unintended victims
The lynxes of the Białowieża forest once freely prowled through 1,420 sq km (548 sq miles) of ancient woodland. Then, in 2022, the habitat was abruptly sliced in two. Poland built a 115-mile (186km) wall across its border with Belarus to stop refugees and migrants entering the EU. About 15 lynxes were left stranded on the Polish side of the forest, forced into a genetic bottleneck.
The 5.5-metre high barrier, which is topped with wire and cameras, also dissects the forest’s population of bison, wolves and elk. Researchers monitored 10 sites along the border, walking along sections and counting signs of humans and wildlife.
“I could not have foreseen the diversity of impacts that we ended up finding,” says the lead author of the report, Katarzyna Nowak, from the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Mammal Research Institute.
Humans have been building walls for thousands of years, but the speed and scale with which they are now being constructed has ballooned over recent decades.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/28/missing-lynx-migration-how-rise-border-walls-split-up-wildlife-populations-extinction