On 20th February last, in Sierra Arana (Granada), four specimens were released, ‘Vélez’ male born in CCLI La Olivilla and descendant of ‘Silva’, two litter sisters ‘Vupia’ and ‘Vípera’, born in the Centro Nacional de Reproducción de Lince Ibérico de Silves (San Bartolomeu de Messines, Portugal) descendants of the female ‘Kaida’ being the first time that littermates are released together, which could contribute to fixity in the place of release and greater adaptation and survival in the wild, and finally ‘Veenita’ a doñanera lynx taken from the field after the death of her mother ‘Rupia’ as a result of being run over by a car.

The case of Rupia became known on 29 June when she was found run over in the municipality of La Palma del Condado (Huelva). Rupia was a female controlled by the Monitoring Team of the Iberian Lynx Recovery Plan in Doñana and was known to have given birth to a litter of four cubs. Given the young age of the cubs, a device was organised to monitor the condition of the orphaned cubs and assess their ability to survive on their own by using photo-trapping cameras and a drone with a thermal sensor from the Environment Agency.
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After days of monitoring, it was found that despite their age they would be able to survive on their own and no action was taken. Even so, from the litter of 4 cubs, it was decided to extract one of them for the 2025 reintroductions, ‘Veenita’, which after a quarantine process, was successfully socialised and trained with a female and her cub at the CCLI La Olivilla.