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Illegal poaching of endangered Lorca lynx escalates
Two animals in Lorca have been killed by hunters while a third is missing, presumed dead
It’s been a rocky start for the breeding pairs of lynx introduced to the Lorca highlands with the aim of re-establishing this endangered species in southern Spain. But now, on top of the natural challenges facing these scarce big cats, illegal poachers are threatening to reduce their number even further.
The Association of Naturalists of the Southeast (ANSE) has warned this week that several of the animals transported to Lorca as part of the special repopulation programme have been targeted by hunters.
So far, the organisation has confirmed that two lynxes have died from gunshot wounds while “there are well-founded suspicions that a third missing specimen suffered a similar fate."
"The mortality data for lynx due to illegal hunting in the project developed in Lorca are among the highest ever recorded in populations of this species," a spokesperson added.
At the beginning of the summer, ANSE and the WWF appealed to the government of the Region of Murcia to put measures in place to protect the wild cats, suggestions which included increasing the number of environmental officers patrolling the highlands and closing off the hunting grounds near the lynx’ new habitat.
Sadly, this has had little impact, and now the groups are calling on the local hunting sector to “act preventively against risky behaviour that is detected and intervene decisively to eliminate any cases that may occur.”
All of the lynx wear GPS tracking devices, which means that most of the bodies have been recovered. However, since other wild animals don’t carry these location sensors, ANSE believes that the number of protected specimens shot illegally is probably much higher than anyone realises.
According to ANSE, the illegal poaching of threatened species like the lynx "not only causes serious environmental damage but also enormous economic damage to public coffers, since the reintroduction of endangered species requires significant financial investments and long hours of work".
In other news: Murcia pushes for mpox vaccine as fears of infection grow
Image: ANSE
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