Slow return of the Iberian lynx

With his leopard-like spots, Navarro – a male lynx – makes mating calls as he walks towards a camera trap.

Just short of 100cm (39 inches) long and 45cm tall, the Iberian lynx is a rare sight. But there are now more than 2,000 in the wild across Spain and Portugal, so you're much more likely to see them than you were 20 years ago.

“The Iberian lynx was very close to extinction,” says Rodrigo Serra, who runs the breeding program across Spain and Portugal.

At their lowest point there were less than 100 lynx left in two non-interacting populations, of which only 25 were females of reproductive age.

“The only feline species that was endangered at this level was the saber tooth tiger thousands of years ago.”

The decline of the lynx population was partly due to more and more land being used for agriculture, an increase in road deaths, and the struggle for food.

Wild rabbits are vital prey for the lynx and two epidemics have caused their numbers to fall by 95%.

By 2005, Portugal had no lynx left, but this was also the year Spain saw its first litter born in captivity.

It took another three years before Portugal decided on a national conservation action plan to save the species. A National Breeding Center for Iberian lynx was built in Silves in the Algarve.

Here they are monitored 24 hours a day. There are two goals – preparing them for life in the wild and repairing them for reproduction.

Serra speaks in a whisper, because even from a distance of 200m you can emphasize the animals in the 16 pens where most of the animals are kept.

Sometimes, though, stress is just what the lynx need.

“When we notice litters getting a little more confident, we go in and chase them and make noise until they get scared again and climb the fences,” he says. Sierra. “We are training them not to be near people in the wild.”

That is partly for their own protection, but also to keep them away from people and their animals. “A lynx should be a lynx, not treated like a house cat.”

So the lynx never associate food with people, they feed them through a tunnel system in the middle.

Then, when the time comes, they will be released into the wild.

Genetics determine where they end up, to reduce the risks of inbreeding or disease. Even if a lynx was born in Portugal it could be taken to Spain.

Pedro Sarmento is responsible for reintroducing the lynx in Portugal and has studied the Iberian lynx for 30 years.

“As a biologist, two things strike me when I handle a lynx. It is an animal with a relatively small head for its body and extremely wide paws. That gives them energy and ability a rare leap.”

The breeding program and the return of the lynx has been very successful, but as their numbers climb there may also be problems.

Since lynxes are often released on private land in Portugal, the organizers of the breeding program must first reach an agreement with the owners.

It's up to them where the animals go afterwards, and although there have been a few attacks on chicken coops, Sarmento says there haven't been many.

“This can lead to unhappiness among the local people. We have been strengthening the coops so that lions do not have access to them, and in some cases we monitor the lynx and send fear them if they need to.”

It tells the story of Lítio, one of the first lynxes published in Portugal.

For six months Lítio stayed in the same area but then the team lost track of him.

Eventually he made his way to Doñana, a national park in southern Spain where he originally came from.

As Lítio was ill, he was treated and then returned to the breeding team in the Algarve.

Within days of his release from the center he began heading back to Donana, swimming across the Guadiana river to reach Spain.

For a while he disappeared, but eventually he was brought back to the Algarve.

When he was released for the third time, Lítio did not go back to Spain but instead walked 3km (two miles), found a woman and never moved again.

“He is the oldest lynx we have here, and he has had many cubs since then,” said Sarmento.

Three decades after Spain decided to save the lynx, the species is no longer endangered, and Sarmento hopes it will reach a favorable conservation status by 2035.

For that to happen, the numbers must reach 5,000-6,000 in the wild.

“I saw the species disappearing. It's amazing that we are in a place where we see lynxes in nature or through camera capture almost every day,” said Sarmento.

The reproductive team is not complacent and there are risks involved in their work. Last year 80% of lynx deaths occurred on the roads.

For now, however, they feel confident that the Iberian lynx has been saved.