The Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Water, Josep Puxeu, said today that the situation of the Iberian lynx has improved in the last five years as a result of the good results being obtained by the Ex situ Conservation Programme of the Iberian Lynx directed by the scientist Astrid Vargas.

The Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Water, Josep Puxeu, said today that the situation of the Iberian lynx has improved in the last five years as a result of the good results being obtained by the Ex situ Conservation Programme of the Iberian Lynx directed by the scientist Astrid Vargas. 

Josep Puxeu has presented the book ‘Ex situ Conservation of the Iberian Lynx: A multidisciplinary approach’, a work that brings together the work carried out in the Captive Breeding Programme, especially since 2005, when the first cubs were born and various genetic, behavioural, veterinary and physiological studies could be started with the animals.

The event was also attended by the Deputy Minister of the Environment of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Jesús Jiménez, the director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Ana Leiva, and the director of the Ex situ Conservation Program of the Iberian Lynx, Astrid Vargas.

The Secretary of State has also announced that on the 26th the first lynx will be transferred from the Zoo-botanical of Jerez de la Frontera to the new captive breeding center built in Silves (Portugal). It is a female born in 2004 and named Azahar. This transfer is the result of the Collaboration Protocol recently signed between Portugal and Spain. It is expected that on October 30 another four lynxes will also be transferred from the La Olivilla Center in Jaén, and so on until completing the 16 specimens that will make up the staff of founders in Portugal.

In this way, the neighbouring country is fully incorporated into the Captive Breeding Programme, extending to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula the essential task of recovering this emblematic feline of the Mediterranean mountain and scrubland.

The National Strategy for the Conservation of the Iberian Lynx, approved by the Sectoral Conference on the Environment last year, provides that by 2010 the Autonomous Communities with a historical presence of the species must have at least one area duly suitable for the reintroduction of the lynx.

In the case of Andalusia, where the work is well advanced thanks to the Life project co-financed by the European Union, it is expected that the first releases will be carried out in 2010.

A reference for specialists and citizens

In addition to Astrid Vargas, Christine Breitenmoser and Urs Breitenmoser have participated in the preparation of the book along with 124 other experts from ten countries, which demonstrates the intense international collaboration work that has been carried out around the Iberian lynx in the last five years.

The book, which will serve as a basic reference for all the studies that will be carried out from now on, is organized into five thematic blocks in which the situation of the lynx in the field and the activities that are being carried out for its conservation in the wild are reviewed; the genetic, behavioral and management aspects of lynxes and other felines in captivity; veterinary aspects, studies on reproductive physiology and, finally, a review of reintroduction techniques.