Date Published: 28/09/2020
ARCHIVED - Unchipped Iberian Lynx caught in the middle of Huelva town
ARCHIVED ARTICLE This endangered native lynx is very rarely seen as there are so few in the wild
The Iberian Lynx remains an endangered species, rarely seen by the general public and remaining only in a very few pockets of the Spanish countryside as efforts continue to protect it and increase the number of breeding pairs in the wild.
So residents of the town of Rociana del Condado in Huelva, Andalusia were both surprised and excited when a young adult male was spotted running through the streets of the town early on Friday morning.
The Lynx generally shies away from humans and with very good reason, as erradication of its habitat, farming,roads and hunters are the main reasons why this magnificent animal is endangered in the first place, so news of its sighting spread rapidly and townsfolk gathered to try and capture a photograph of the lynx once it stopped running through the town and settled down by the church in the Plaza de España at the centre of the town.
Local police called technicians from the El Acebuche breeding center and agents of the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Civil Guard, who managed to capture the animal at 10.15, two hours after it was first sighted.
The young male appeared to be one and a half years old and was not micro-chipped, which means that its birth had not been recorded as part of the programme to protect the species underway in the nearby Doñana park.
The animal is in good health and the corresponding biological samples have been taken to try to identify and learn more about it, as well as a rapid test for feline leukemia, which has been negative.
After an initial check-up, the lynx was transferred to the Endangered Species Recovery Center (CREA) in La Calatilla for veterinary follow-up and will remain there until the final result of the tests, after which it can be tagged and released back into the wild.
Despite all the obstacles, the Iberian lynx population continues to grow after the births of this spring which, in the absence of a definitive count, could add up to 250 cubs during 2020, although the organizations involved in saving the feline from extinction say that numbers are still very low, their aspiration being to achieve a move to the classification of "vulnerable" species within the next five years rather than endangered.
This requires maintaining a population of 1,000 individuals
for at least five years.
The number of lynx in the wild is now estimated to be around 820 to 830 adults and last year about 200 cubs were born, of which 100 are believed to have survived.
The biggest problem facing an expansion of the lynx population is human activity, and in spite of the best efforts to build protective fencing in areas of their habitat through which roads pass, so far in 2020, WWF Spain has recorded at least 32 road deaths, to which must be added the losses due to poaching.
The head of the WWF Iberian lynx program, Ramón Pérez de Ayala, said in an interview shortly after the end of lockdwn, that despite "all efforts", road deaths and hunting remain the two main threats to the lynx and that, far from being reduced as it would be logical to assume, during confinement, there were more road deaths of lynxes than in previous years, with 32 known road traffic accidents; less traffic on the roads made the lynx less cautious and cars travelled faster, a dangerous combination.
Although the lynx has been re-introduced into Doñana in Andalusia through the Life Iberlince project, there are more rabbits available in Castilla La Mancha and areas of Portugal where the population is also growing thanks to the EU-funded conservation programme.