Eurasian lynx conservation experts from Croatia meet with Iberlince team to learn about the management of the Iberian lynx in Andalusia

This week, specialists from the LIFE Iberlince project 'Recovery of the historical distribution of the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Spain and Portugal' (2011-2018) held a meeting in Seville with a Croatian delegation of biologists and veterinarians working in the research and conservation of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) to learn about management measures carried out in Andalusia, which resulted in a considerable population increase (from 94 specimens in 2002 to 589 in 2017) and the subsequent downgrading of the specie’s endangered status by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).

During the meeting, which took place in the Ministry of Environment and Territorial Planning of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Iberlince project specialists introduced the measures taken and results obtained regarding Iberian lynx management and conservation in the last fifteen years, a period in which three consecutive LIFE Nature projects were carried out.

After the interventions, the specialists from the Croatian Agency for the Environment and Nature, accompanied by the Iberlince team, went on a field trip to learn about the actions carried out during the last years in the Andújar areas ( Jaén), as well as in the Guarrizas reintroduction areas (one of the two areas in Andalusia selected by the project for specimen reintroduction). They also visited the captive breeding centre of La Olivilla (Santa Elena, Jaén).

Currently, the Croatian Agency for the Environment and Nature participates, as a partner, in the LIFE Lynx project 'Preventing the extinction of the Dinaric-SE Alpine lynx population through reinforcement and long-term conservation', whose coordinating partner is the Zavod za Gozdove Slovenije (Slovenia Forest Service).