The wild cat, one of the great forgotten animals in conservation policies, is increasingly difficult to observe in large areas of the centre and south of the Iberian Peninsula, especially in the western part. It faces a silent disappearance at the same time as the other peninsular feline, the Iberian lynx, is no longer in danger of extinction. In the north and northeast (Cantabrian mountain range and Pyrenees), the mammal – larger than the domestic cat and with a tail furrowed by dark rings – still maintains healthy populations. In this debacle, it has become extinct or its condition is critical in almost all of Extremadura, even in protected areas such as Doñana (Huelva), Monfragüe (Cáceres) and Sierras de Tejeda and Almijara (between the provinces of Granada and Málaga). Behind this decline are the scarcity of rabbits, road accidents, poaching, hybridisation with domestic cats and even the reintroduction of the lynx, which displaces or kills wild cats because it considers them competition, says biologist and researcher at the University of Granada José María Gil.
The main problem is the lack of comprehensive scientific studies on the species: neither its real demographic situation nor what is happening is known with certainty. Without this data, there is no basis for classifying the predator as threatened, which would force the public administration to adopt specific conservation measures. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) includes the European wildcat in its Red List in the category of “least concern”, but in one of its latest updates it warns about these gaps in knowledge, the great fragmentation that exists in the populations and the poor situation of the species in the Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula.
In Spain it is considered of special interest, “that is, it cannot be killed, but it has the same protection as a swallow and, without detracting from any species, should be listed in some threat category (vulnerable or endangered) in the Mediterranean area [la mayor parte de España, excepto la franja norte]“We are still analyzing the information collected at 170 points of 2,000 hectares each,” says Gil, an expert in these animals. The most up-to-date global data available comes from a survey in which Gil participated, which was launched five years ago and has just finished. They are still analyzing the information collected at 170 points of 2,000 hectares each, but they can already confirm that “if you draw a diagonal on a map from Galicia to Almería, the population below that line is extinct or in very bad shape,” he says.
The initiative, coordinated by Emilio Virgós, a professor at the Rey Juan Carlos University and an expert on carnivores, arose when Spanish and Portuguese researchers began to detect the decline in population and decided to join forces. “It has been successful thanks to the participation of volunteers,” Virgós points out, referring to the lack of help from most of the public administration. The sampling carried out is like a photograph, “from which a pattern can be drawn, but we have to continue, study more areas and carry out monitoring. If you let 30 years go by, there may not be any cats left and the effort to reintroduce a species is tremendous and may not work,” he adds.
Specific studies
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There are other studies, but they are specific and from specific areas. In 2021, scientists from the Institute for Research on Game Resources (IREC-CSIC), led by Pablo Ferreras, and from the University of Malaga and CIBIO-University of Porto estimated the average population density of the wild cat in the Cabañeros National Park, located in Ciudad Real and Toledo. The values they recorded were among the lowest described for the species in Europe. “Despite being an area with maximum protection,” Ferreras stresses. Probably, behind this drop is the lack of rabbits – the preferred food of lynxes in the Mediterranean area – due to diseases such as haemorrhagic fever, a highly contagious viral disease that only affects domestic and wild rabbits. The diet of specimens that live in more wooded areas consists mainly of micromammals such as mice, rats, voles…
Another investigation led by forest firefighter Francisco Gómez Chicano has confirmed that the feline no longer roams the lands of Cádiz. During the five years of the study (2018-2023) carried out in the natural parks of Los Alcornocales and Sierra de Grazalema, they were unable to find any trace of the feline. They obtained 5,184 records by camera trapping of different species, but none was of a wild cat. CSIC Doñana Biological Station The company is also developing a project in the Palentina Mountain region with the aim of studying the ecology and conservation status of the feline, which is scheduled to be completed in 2028.
In Catalonia, on the other hand, where there is no lynx and the wild cat is the only existing wild feline, its populations are healthy. “The information we have collected indicates that it is not in danger,” replies Eric Serratosa, a technician from the Carnivore Research Group of Catalonia (FELIS-ICHN). Since 2020, they have been collecting information in a standardized way, with the help of volunteers and the participation of the Generalitat. They have installed 400 photo-trapping cameras and also carry out genetic analyses of the excrement in the two areas where the cat lives: one is in the Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenees, which is quite continuous, and the other in the south of Catalonia, on the border with Aragon, which seems disconnected from the Pyrenees and more closely linked to the populations of Aragon, those of Maestrazgo.
In this time, they have genetically differentiated 112 individuals, of which nine showed “a slight hybridisation with the domestic cat and five were first-generation hybrids”. The mixing of wild and domestic specimens does not seem to be at the origin of the decline in other parts of Spain, but it is a great danger. In Scotland, this genetic crossing has led to the almost total disappearance of the wild cat.
Experts believe that the species cannot be lost, not only because it is endangered, but because it is a very unique animal from Europe – where three wild felines live: two species of lynx, the Iberian and the boreal, and the wild cat. Until recently, it was considered that the European wild cat was part of a group that also included the African and Asian cats, but it has been proven that they are three different species.
“The wild cat is an example of the poor management of wildlife in the country, a species that disappears and no one notices. And this feline is lucky that there are a few people who like it, but imagine the small fauna that is being lost,” Gil warns. But despite the dark scenario, the scientist believes that it can be overcome with appropriate policies, “because the most threatened cats, the Mediterranean ones, still retain some strongholds in mountainous areas such as the eastern Sierra Morena, the Betic mountain range, the Iberian system, the Levantine mountain ranges and the eastern Central system.”
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