Yesterday we published an April Fools’ Day news about the release of the Iberian Lynx in Prekmurje, which is, of course, untrue.
In mid-October 2021, representatives of the LIFE projects working with large carnivores from Slovenia and Italy (LIFE Lynx and LIFE WolfAlps EU) visited Andalusia. The purpose of the visit was meeting with one of the most successful lynx reinforcement projects in Europe – LIFE Iberlince projects that have already finished, and the ongoing LIFE LynxConnect project that is trying to create stepping-stones areas to connect the separated Iberian lynx populations.
During the visit, members of the LIFE Lynx project also had the opportunity to release an Iberian Lynx into the wild, which they had captured for a routine veterinary check. The doors of the transport box were opened by the LIFE Lynx and Lynx Connect representatives to symbolically mark the cooperation between both projects.
The Iberian Lynx is a native species in Spain, but it is not native to Slovenia, where the native species is the Eurasian Lynx. The LIFE Lynx project is therefore saving the Dinaric-SE Alpine lynx population from extinction by introducing Eurasian lynx from the most closely related population in the Carpathian Mountains.
Representatives of LIFE Lynx and LIFE Lynx Connect projects opened the doors of the transport box. Photo: Maja Sever, LIFE Lynx
Iberian lynx ran into the wilderness of Doñana National Park. Photo: Lan Hočevar, LIFE Lynx