Reintroduction of Iberian Lynx in Portugal: Beginning of the 2017 season of lynx releases in Mértola

The new season of lynx releases this year begins on February 17. Two lynxes, one male and one female, from the National Center for Captive Breeding in Silves, begin their natural life in the Vale do Guadiana area.

Noudar and Niassa are the first animals to be released in 2017, reinforcing the viability of the lynx nucleus of the county of Mértola. These lynxes, unlike their founding progenitors of the Captive Breeding Program, had no direct human contact and had a wild behavior. The team of technicians and handlers in Silves, followed its birth and evolution indirectly, through a system of video surveillance cameras, assessing their abilities based on an experience of more than 5 years of continuous observation of lynx and pups. Following a protocol established in the Ex situ Iberian program, rabbits are given brave to these animals so that their learning of hunting is consolidated. Prior to their release, a vaccination program is still in progress and analyzes are carried out on their health status.

In the Guadiana Valley, 17 animals have been released since 2015, of which 12 - Macela, Jacaranda, Mel, Luso, Katmandu, Mesquita, Lagunilla, Mistral, Malva, Liberdade, Mirandilla and Moreira have already stabilized territories in the area of the Natura 2000 Network Guadiana. These individuals are monitored by a team on the ground through radio and GSM tracking or photo-trapping.

The first couple and 4 other animals that started the process of reintroduction in 2014 and 2015, used an adaptation enclosure necessary to fix and retain them to the zone. At present, the procedure is the harsh loosening of lynxes in new areas, since there are already resident lynxes that will stimulate newcomers to establish their independent territory. The spatial dynamics of the species is an important factor for their survival, since it is known that males overlap their territory with that of one or more females, and may also perform dispersive and exploratory long-distance movements before establishing themselves.

The release sites in the Guadiana valley are also chosen in agreement with the important collaboration of owners and based on the results of the seasonal surveys of wild rabbits carried out by technicians, nature watchmen and personnel assigned to hunting areas. This data collection and analysis allows to gauge in detail the available abundance of the main prey of the species and which is the fundamental factor for each of the potentially reproductive females to establish a territory of about 5 square kilometers.

These actions are part of the project "Recovery of the Historical Distribution of the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Spain and Portugal (LIFE+ 10/NAT/ES/000570 - Iberlince) co-financed by the European Commission. Portuguese - ICNF, Iberlinx Association, EDIA, Infrastructure of Portugal and Moura City Council. Within this Iberian project, an assessment was also made of the social attitudes of populations in areas of reintroduction, and actions to minimize animal mortality on roads have been encouraged. The project will run until 2018 and the coordinating beneficiary - the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, Junta de Andalucía - was awarded the European Citizens' Prize in 2016 for the collaboration between public and private entities.

By March 2017 8 lynxes will be released in the municipality of Mértola, all born in captivity, almost a year ago, in the five centers in the Iberian Peninsula. In similar areas in Spain, in the autonomous communities of Extremadura, Castile - La Mancha and Andalusia, have also begun the releases of animals that the Captive Breeding Program produced for this purpose. Reintroduction is a process of re-establishing an autonomous wild population, which is carried out in the medium and long term, ensuring adequate population and genetic diversity.