A long time has passed since the reintroduction of the lynx in Extremadura began in 2014. It has been 8 years of effort, work and collaboration from different administrations, companies, town councils, hunting federations, landowners, managers, NGOs, Natural Environment Agents, the Ministry (OAPN) and SEPRONA.

Such involvement has made it possible to achieve great successes. At the beginning of the year we had 168 lynxes in our Community, and among them there were 53 breeding females, which together with the 53 cubs born in 2021 constitute a great milestone for a species that had been extinct since the year 2000. The territories where the lynx has been reintroduced or has come to settle by its own means are varied, but they share common characteristics: a Mediterranean scrubland habitat favourable to the species, a high density of rabbits and a great deal of social support. The lynx roams the Matachel Valley, the Ortiga river SCI, Valdecigüeñas and Valdecañas-Ibores, and sightings of this emblematic species by the local population are now commonplace.

The General Directorate of Sustainability of the Regional Government of Extremadura has released this week 8 lynxes (4 females and 4 males), coming from the breeding centres of El Acebuche, Zarza de Granadilla, La Olivilla and Silves (Portugal). They have been released in the area of the Ortiga, Matachel and Valdecigueás rivers. With this release, the lynx population in Extremadura will be 176 specimens. The objective for the future is not so much to increase the populations as to consolidate them, guaranteeing the genetic and functional interconnection of the different nuclei. For this reason, a meticulous genetic study of the individuals to be released in the different territories is being carried out beforehand.

The new LIFE Lynxconnect Project “Creation of a genetically and demographically functional metapopulation of the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) (2020 – 2025)”, co-financed 60.67% by the EU, was created precisely to maintain these populations and to guarantee the genetic variability and interconnection of these territories, complementing the Lynx Reintroduction Programme approved in 2016 in Extremadura.

The Lynxconnect Project is the fourth Life Project approved by the European Commission for the conservation of the Iberian Lynx. Coordinated by the Junta de Andalucía, it is a transnational project that brings together the efforts of 21 public and private institutions from Andalucía, Extremadura, Castilla La Mancha, Murcia and Portugal, environmental NGOs, representatives of the hunting sector and with the support of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, which will work to consolidate the population, guaranteeing gene flow between the different lynx populations.

By building on the experience of years of work in previous projects, and by improving the cooperation of administrations and other stakeholders, we will achieve the definitive consolidation of the lynx population.