The European Nature Trust (TENT) hosts expertly-guided impact-driven trips for wildlife and nature lovers to the wild corners of Europe. TENT’s Conservation Manager, Jacob Dykes, catches up with conservationist Carmen Rueda on the status of Iberian Lynx in southern Spain. TENT offers the opportunity to spot these cats in the wild with expert guidance on the Iberian Lynx Recovery Adventure, with proceeds allocated to their conservation through local foundation, CBD-Habitat.

Handsome, with burnished sideburns, a piercing gaze and dazzling coat, the Iberian lynx is one of Europe’s natural marvels. To see a lynx hunting in the sun-dappled Spanish dehesa, is to behold a story of conservation success in motion. Today, the species has found a special place in the heart of the Spanish people, owing to its endemic status as Iberia’s native apex predator, and its dramatic recovery from the brink of extinction. It is thanks to the collaborative work of conservation groups and regional governments, who together achieved one of the most dramatic population recoveries in the history of European conservation, that we still have the opportunity to spot these stunning cats in the wild, where their future was very recently in jeopardy. 

Once abundant across Spain and Portugal, the Iberian lynx co-evolved with the region’s biodiversity. But there was a moment in history when this evolutionary history risked erasure. In 2002, the Iberian lynx was the most endangered cat species on the planet. A vortex of human-caused threats had brought the population to less than 100 individuals. ‘It was what we call a silent extinction,’ says Carmen Rueda, conservationist at CBD-Habitat, a organisation collaborating on the LIFE LynxConnect project – a regional project seeking to re-establish lynx populations across Iberia – and a partner of The European Nature Trust. 

The decline of Iberian lynx had been swirling for decades, with fashion-driven demand for their fur incentivising unregulated hunting. But it was in the middle of the 20th century when the lynx population experienced a marked reduction.

In the 1950s, the rabbit-specific disease myxomatosis, caused by the Myxoma virus, was purposely introduced to France as a method of biological control to reduce rabbit populations considered a pest in agriculture. By the late 1950s, it had swept across Europe, spreading to the Iberian peninsula. Together with a second rabbit disease, Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD), which emerged in the 1980s, the two diseases killed off 95% of Spain and Portugal’s wild rabbits. Since the rabbit is a keystone species in Mediterranean ecosystems – in which it provides food for predators at higher tiers of the foodchain – the decline of the rabbit had rippling ecological consequences.The lynx’s diet is more than 75% rabbit; having co-evolved with rabbits during the Pleistocene epoch, the Iberian lynx evolved a smaller and slicker body shape than the Eurasian lynx, allowing it to stalk and hunt rabbits with high efficiency in patchy Mediterranean shrubs. 

While introduced diseases were ravaging the lynx’s prey, development in many key regions of lynx range was degrading and reducing the extent of habitat – a perfect storm for the species’ extinction. At the beginning of the 21st century, the lynx had become restricted to just two isolated subpopulations in southern Spain, one in Doñana National Park another in Sierra du Andújar.

How the recovery of the Iberian lynx is becoming Europe’s landmark conservation success

Seeing that the population was on the brink of collapse in 2002, the European Commission’s LIFE programme brought together more than 20 organisations, including CBD-Habitat, to step in and revive the population. ‘The dangerous situation really brought groups together,’ says Carmen. The strategy was relatively simple: establish a network of breeding centres at carefully selected sites across their historic range; create a genetically-resilient stock population; and gear up for an eventual wild release to create ‘seed’ populations that would in time disperse to fill the historic range. 

Since those early days, those ‘seed’ populations have successfully been established, growing the number of wild Iberian lynx from a historic low of below 100 individuals to more than 2,200 today, now spread across eight distinct populations. ‘There was the financial backing of the LIFE programme to really start building a network of reintroduction projects,’ says Carmen. ‘Together with conservation NGOs, there was a determination at the national level to save this iconic species. It was an example of what can happen when conservation groups come together.’ 

Iberian lynx populations are now being re-seeded across southern Spain, with 8 distinct sub-populations now formed. The challenge is now to connect these populations through ecological corridors – the objective of the LIFE LynxConnect project. 

Today, Carmen is working with her small team at CBD-Habitat to monitor many of the reintroduced populations, track their movement and behaviour with camera trapping and geotagging surveys, and observe their progress. ‘In just a few years, we’ve seen a significant population recovery. The challenge now is to manage the expansion of the reintroduced populations,’ she says. But that entails significant monitoring work. ‘With the reintroductions, the sites were heavily scrutinised and carefully selected. Now, those ‘seed’ populations are dispersing into new areas, which is great, but we don’t necessarily know how the [translocated lynx] will behave. That’s where monitoring comes in’.

Another critical challenge is to recover the habitat. Much of the lynx’s former scrubland habitat has been lost to human development over time. As such, Carmen and CBD-Habitat are working with other conservation groups on the LIFE LynxConnect project. Launched in 2020, it aims to create at least 10 wildlife corridors of rabbit-rich, diversified habitat, which scientists call ‘stepping stones’ – passageways of abundance encouraging isolated lynx populations to disperse and connect with one another, thereby improving the population’s overall genetic health. This year, organisations like CBD-Habitat will work to establish these wildlife corridors, while reintroducing lynx to new Spanish locations currently missing the species, such as Granada and Murcia. In time, supplemented populations of wild rabbit will help to spread the seeds of scrubland species, allowing natural processes to improve the habitat quality and create resilience in the ecosystem.

In many areas of rural Spain, the population recovery has been helped by a willingness of local communities to welcome back the carnivore. Fortunately, ‘the lynx is not a high conflict animal,’ says Carmen. ‘It’s handsome, people like watching the animal and ecologically speaking, it is beneficial for hunting groups.’ Lynx, by controlling the amount of prey available, reduce the numbers of other predators lower down in the food chain, such as foxes and mongoose. In turn, the numbers of game species begin to rise, benefitting hunting groups. Lynx-based ecotourism offers a glimmer of hope for the species, helping diversify rural economies and encouraging local people and regional governments alike to support the lynx’s continued recovery.

For a select few however, the lynx is still viewed as a pest for supposedly harming livestock. Around 12% of the lynx deaths each year are caused by illegal killings and poisonings, which are often reactionary to perceived threats to poultry and game-birds. To mitigate these threats, CBD-Habitat are working on education initiatives to help communities understand the value of the lynx as an emblem of wild Iberia, a critical part of the ecosystem, and a sustainable source of ecotourism opportunities. What’s more, with 50% of lynx deaths caused by collisions with traffic, CBD-Habitat advises on planned infrastructural projects to minimise damage to the growing lynx population, as well as carrying out health monitoring surveys in collaboration with regional government teams.

A critical step for the lynx is for local communities to embrace the species as a catalyst for enterprise. ‘In many areas, the lynx population recovery has helped new businesses to start: wildlife watching tour operators, wildlife photography businesses, hotels and restaurants, for example’ says Carmen. ‘However, it comes down to the local people’s perception of the species, and what they want for their local area: if they want this kind of positive development for rural economies, they’re the ones that have to make the first step. But if we come together with a shared vision, the recent history of this beautiful species tells us exactly what is possible.’

Your Hosts

The Iberian Lynx Recovery adventure is hosted by conservationists from CBD-Habitat and TENT.