Schoolchildren baptize one of the Iberian lynx specimens that will be released in Guarrizas with the name of 'Olavide'

This morning, 5th and 6th grade schoolchildren of the Carlos III of Santa Elena primary school (Jaén) baptized one of the specimens that will be released during the next months in the Guarrizas River valley (Jaén) as Olavide. This is one of the two Iberian lynx reintroduction areas in the Andalusian community.

Much like what happened last week at a school in Villafranca de Córdoba (Córdoba), where students chose the name 'Omeya', these schoolchildren (whose school is also located in an area where the Iberian lynx is present) were accompanied by Life+Iberlince project personnel and chose the name Olavide by majority vote, in tribute to Pablo de Olavide, and coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the promulgation of the People’s Jurisdiction through which the Nuevas Poblaciones de Sierra Morena y Andalucía was founded .

Such initiatives intend to get the public (in this case, schoolchildren) involved in a conservation project, and its success depends on the participation and awareness of citizens who live near territories where the feline is present.

A total of four Iberian lynxes will be released in 2018 in the Guarrizas reintroduction area, two females and two males genetically selected among those born in captivity in order to enrich the area’s genetic variability.