In southwestern Sweden the known population declined from 65 pairs in 1955
to just a few pairs in the mid 1970’s and local extirpation seemed impending
(Lindberg 1985, 1988). The species was classifid as critically endangered
(CR) and in 1974 a national captive-breeding programme was established,
based on experience and knowledge from the North American programmes
at Cornell University, USA (Tom Cade), Canadian Wildlife breeding station
at Wainwright (Richard Fyfe) and German breeding programmes (Christian
Saar). The idea was to create a gene bank of Fennoscandian Peregrines and
release the offspring. The ultimate goal was to repopulate an area (ca 15000
sq km) in south-western Sweden with a wild self-maintaining population of
about 25-30 pairs (ca 50% of the pre-1955 population in that area (Lindberg
1983).