Iberian Lynx Makes Surprise Recovery from Extinction Threat

A program focused on the conservation of the Iberian lynx, a wild cat, in Spain and Portugal has saved the once-critically-endangered animal from the verge of extinction.

In 2002, the Iberian lynx was considered to be in its last few years of existence, with less than a hundred of the animals remaining according to the New York Times, and a mere quarter of them females. But the LIFE+Iberlince program, involving over 20 organizations, has defied the odds and revived the Iberian lynx to a population now consisting of 700 animals.

“If someone told me 20 years ago that we would achieve such results, I would have thought they were out of their mind,” says Miguel Simón, retired director of the Lynx LIFE program.

Though the animals are divided across five areas in Spain and Portugal – El Acebuche, La Olivilla, Silver, Zarza de Granadilla and Zoobotánico de Jerez – scientists consider them one population and have distributed the animals carefully for full genetic diversity.