“Two lynxes, one male and one female, from the National Captive Breeding Centre in Silves, will begin their life in natural surroundings in the Guadiana Valley area,” according to a statement from ICNF.
The Iberian Lynx is classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and is the world’s most endangered feline species. In recent years, the captive breeding programme and conservation measures have increased the population from a figure of less than 100 animals, to an estimate of just over 400.
By the end of March, it said, eight lynxes will have been released in the Mértola area, all of them captive bred, about a year ago, in the five breeding centres located in the Iberian peninsula.
In Spain, in the autonomous communities of Extremadura, Castilha-La Mancha and Andaluzia, release programmes have also begun of animals bred as part of the Captive Breeding Programme.
The releases are part of the project for Recovery of the Distribution of the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Spain and Portugal to recover the endangered species.
Since 2015, 17 lynxes have been released in the Guadiana Valley, of which 12 (Macela, Jacarandá, Mel, Luso, Katmandu, Mesquita, Lagunilla, Mistral, Malva, Liberdade, Mirandilla and Moreira) now have stable territories in the area, according to the ICNF.
These animals are monitored by a team on the ground through radio and GSM tracking and photo traps.
The project for the recovery of the Iberian Lynx, which runs until 2018, is co-funded by the European Commission and involves 22 partners of which five are Portuguese - the ICNF, Associação Iberlinx, the EDIA, state road and infrastructure agency Infraestruturas de Portugal and the Moura Municipal Council. TPN/Lusa