For the love of the Iberian lynx
LYNXES were released in Murcia region last Thursday as part of an EU LIFE conservation project to connect populations of the endangered species around the country and get them to settle in new areas.
“We have been working for years to guarantee their successful reintroduction, with the arrival of these three examples,” said regional government president Fernando López Miras.
A fourth Iberian lynx was due to be added this week.
He took part in the release, near the Pantano de Puentes reservoir in Lorca, where they will be kept in enclosed natural spaces to acclimatise them until April, before they are definitively released into the highlands of the municipality.
At that time another two pairs of lynxes will be moved into the enclosures, which each cover 10,000 square metres and contain rabbits to hunt, a pond, and small spaces for the animals to hide.
Their movements will be tracked with GPS devices so that the project members can evaluate any risks and take any necessary action to ensure the success of the initiative, noted Sr López Miras.
He explained that the LIFE LynxConnect project has involved hard work and coordination between public administrations and various professional teams, ‘in order to leave an environmental legacy to future generations that is better than the one we found’.
“The final objective is to have in a few years at least 15 reproducing females to form a consolidated group,” he added.
The names of these first three lynxes – which have been chosen by 1,000 schoolchildren who took part in a survey – are Tiko, Torrealvilla and Tahúlla.
The Iberian lynx is a medium-sized carnivore with an average weight of 12.5 kilos, length of 80 centimetres and height of 45cm, although males are significantly larger than females.
This is the fourth LIFE project approved by the European commission to conserve this species.
It was developed thanks to the success of the LIFE Iberlince project to restore the historical distribution of lynx populations in Spain and Portugal between 2012 and 2018, which was when
Murcia joined.
The LynxConnect project also involves the regions of Andalucía, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura, as well as Portugal, environmental NGOs (Adenex, WWF-España and the CBDHábitat foundation), representatives of the hunting sector, the Artemisan foundation, private companies (Fotex and Fomecam Terra), and the Spanish scientific research council (CSIC) biology station in Doñana national park.
Its total budget is over €18.75 million, of which the EU LIFE programme is contributing over 60% and Murcia regional government has invested €400,000.