The threats to the tiger and the snow leopard in Asia are widely reported and well known. What is less well known is that much closer to home, another big cat is desperately close to extinction: the Iberian lynx of Spain and Portugal.
Four years ago we asked our supporters to help us save the Iberian lynx. Since then FFI has supported projects that have safeguarded 7,440 hectares of Iberian lynx habitat. But the population is still dangerously low and the threats to its survival are still serious. The need to save species like the Iberian lynx is still of absolute urgency and we need further funding to make sure it happens.
Please give now to help us put measures in place to protect threatened species, such as the Iberian lynx, before it’s too late.
The Problem
The Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus is the most endangered cat species in the world. The rate of decline in their population in the last 50 years has been dramatic, and during the last decade catastrophic.
The most recent reports indicate that there are only around 150 adult Iberian lynx now surviving in the wild. Without immediate intervention the Iberian lynx could be extinct in the wild within the next decade: this situation is unprecedented and would be a tragedy.
The Iberian lynx is dying out on our doorstep, please don’t let this happen. Please help FFI today to prevent overlooked extinctions like this.
Why is the Iberian lynx on the brink of extinction?
Loss of habitat: Large areas of Spain and Portugal’s native cork oak forests and Mediterranean scrub have been converted to intensive agriculture and eucalyptus plantations. The lynx cannot survive in these new conditions.
Lack of food: The introduction of myxomatosis to Spain in the 1950s has resulted in the number of rabbits falling below the level which can support a wild lynx population.
Roads, Railways and Dams: The Iberian lynx’s survival depends on its ability to disperse but major agriculture and road developments are fragmenting the population. Between 2000 and 2006, some 20 Iberian lynx are known to have been killed on roads.
Hunting: Lynx have been shot or trapped illegally on sporting estates. In Spain between 2002 and 2003 five individuals were found dead in snares. This is thought to be a small percentage of those killed this way.
FFI now wants to:
• Secure 35,000 hectares of important lynx habitat
• Support captive breeding sanctuaries in Spain and Portugal to increase the population for reintroduction to the wild
• Develop migration corridors that allow safe passage for lynx, avoiding roads
• Initiate an awareness-raising campaign to change people’s attitudes and raise local, national and international support for the Iberian lynx
• Develop a programme of rabbit breeding within secured sites
Please help us today by donating to FFI; the need to stop overlooked extinctions, like that of the Iberian lynx, is urgent and we need all the help we can get to take action.
Thank you.
For further information please contact Camila Iturra on +44 (0)1223 579018 or camila.iturra@fauna-flora.org
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