Spanish Lynx in Trouble

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Spanish Lynx in Trouble

CAT NEWS
Issue 2, Spring 1985

After the IUCN General Assembly I visited Miguel Delibes, specialist in the Spanish or pardel lynx, in the Doñana National Park, which is the principal sanctuary for the cat. Miguel reckons that there are 30-40 lynxes in the Doñana. (Guy Mountfort quoted a figure of 150-200 in the mid-sixties with 15-20 allowed to be shot each year).

The population is continuing to decline, and the habitat is decreasing. Apart from being shot by hunters, lynx are being caught in leg traps set for rabbits. Three lynx have been radio-collared in the Doñana, and I was lucky enough to have a glimpse of one of them. Six lynxes died in the course of six months, two run over by cars, two caught in illegal rabbit traps, and two from unknown causes. I have since received a note from Miguel that another lynx has been run over, and another has lost two toes in a trap.

The lynx’s range, which once embraced most of Spain and Portugal, is now fragmented into small areas containing only a handful of animals. One of the few places where the lynx exists in reasonable numbers is in the Toledo mountains, south of Madrid. However, an estate there called Cabañeros is sought by the Spanish Air Force as a bombing range. The area is also of great importance for birds, including 22 breeding pairs of the seriously-threatened black vulture, as well as black and white storks, great and little bustards, and many species of eagles and other birds of prey. Protests about this project have already been made by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, President of the World Wildlife Fund, and Russell Peterson, President of the International Council for Bird Preservation.

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