Andalusia reaches 402 Iberian lynxes in 2017, and the rest of the peninsula reaches 145 specimens

The Environment Minister highlights the outcome of the connection of the reintroduction areas led by the Life+Iberlince project

The Minister for the Environment and Territorial Planning, José Fiscal, presented provisional data of the Iberian lynx census in Andalusia and the Iberian Peninsula. Over the past year, a total of 547 specimens were registered, 402 of which in Andalusian territory. It is still a provisional census, since in Andalusia data verification is at 90 percent due to the number of specimens it has to oversee, as well as the extension of the area the lynxes inhabit.

José Fiscal indicated that this data attests a positive population evolution of the planet’s most threatened feline, which has gone from 94 specimen in 2002 and only present in Andalusia, to 547 in 2017 and spreading in the peninsula. In this regard, he stressed that the Regional Government of Andalusia was dedicated to the conservation of this natural heritage, unique to our peninsula, by first consolidating the Doñana and Sierra Morena populations, and later initiating reintroductions in areas where history shows the species was present.

Fiscal perceives the results of the lynx census in recent years as a success in conservation, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) itself, upon witnessing the positive evolution of Iberian lynx populations, decreased its threat category in 2015 from "critically endangered" to "endangered".

The 2017 results reflect the consolidation of the increase in Iberian lynx populations. Presently, the number of specimens has increased over five-fold. The Environment incumbent assessed the work carried out by the Life+Iberlince project in the new reintroduction areas of Portugal, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha; where the population is growing as expected, and where the aimed target of 5 territorial females per reintroduction area is being achieved.

Furthermore, connections between the different reintroduction areas have been initiated, which demonstrates the viability of the proposed objective for a future Life Naturaleza project of connecting the various presence and reintroduction areas. In this regard, there is already a fluid exchange of specimens between Guadalmellato-Cardeña-Andújar-Guarrizas, and between the latter and Eastern Sierra Morena, in Ciudad Real. Additionally, some specimens have moved between Valle de Matachel, Badajoz and Montes de Toledo and Sierra Norte de Sevilla; and between Doñana and Vale do Guadiana, Mértola, in Portugal.

Although the census is not yet completed in Andalusia, it is possible to observe a stable trend in the entire population, which remains in the range of 400 Iberian lynxes. Population growth in recent years has been hindered by the onset of haemorrhagic disease, which has an adverse impact on wild rabbit populations.

In 2017, there was a surge in Iberian lynx deaths, which propelled an in-depth analysis in order to adopt appropriate measures. Last year ended with a total of 58 dead lynxes, 41 of those in Andalusia. In the peninsula, 31 car collisions have taken place, of which 18 were in Andalusia; 5 more than in 2016. José Fiscal indicated that this road collision element will continue to coexist with the program, but the Ministry of Environment and Territorial Planning will not compromise, and will continue working to minimize this factor.