Iberian lynx saved from the brink of extinction thanks to conservation efforts

Things are getting better Iberian Lynx.

About 20 years ago, the pointy-eared wild cat was on the brink of extinction, but as of Thursday, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced that the species is no longer endangered.

Thanks to successful conservation efforts, the animal, which is native to Spain and Portugal, is now considered almost certainly not threatened, according to the latest IUCN Red List.

In 2001, there were only 62 mature Iberian lynx left in the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberian lynx is a medium-sized, spotted brown cat with distinctive pointed ears and a pair of whisker-like tufts of facial hair. The extinction of this species is closely linked to the extinction of its main prey, the European rabbit, habitat degradation, and human activities.

Alarm bells were sounded and breeding, reintroduction and conservation projects were launched, as well as efforts to restore habitats such as dense forests, Mediterranean scrub and pastures. Portugal The IUCN said the population was 648 adults, but the most recent count last year found there were more than 2,000 adults and juveniles.

“This huge population increase is a really huge success,” Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List Division, told The Associated Press.

One of the keys to the rabbit population’s recovery has been attention to rabbit populations that were affected by changes in agricultural production, which has led to a steady increase in lynx numbers, Hilton-Taylor said.

“The greatest recovery of this cat species has been achieved through conservation efforts thanks to the dedicated collaboration between public and scientific institutions, NGOs, the private sector and local residents, including local landowners, farmers, game wardens and hunters,” Francisco Javier Salcedo Ortiz, coordinator of the EU-funded LIFE Lynx-Connect project, said in a statement.

IUCN has worked with local communities to raise awareness of the Iberian lynx’s importance to the ecosystem, which has helped reduce animal deaths from poaching and roadkill, and farmers receive compensation if an Iberian lynx kills their livestock, Hilton-Taylor said.

More than 400 Iberian lynx have been reintroduced into parts of Portugal and Spain since 2010 and now live over at least 3,320 square kilometres of land, up from 449 square kilometres in 2005.

“Everything has to be taken into consideration before we release the lynx, and we revise our protocols approximately every four years,” said Ramon Pérez de Ayala, Spain’s species project manager for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the NGOs involved in the project.

While the latest Red List status offers hope for other species in a similar situation, Hilton-Taylor said the lynx was not out of danger yet.

The biggest uncertainty is what will happen to rabbits, an animal vulnerable to virus outbreaks and other diseases that can be transmitted by livestock.

“We’re also concerned about the issue of climate change and how habitats will respond to it, particularly the increased impact of fires such as we’ve seen in the Mediterranean over the past year or two,” Hilton-Taylor said.