The reintroduction of the feline in the Region of Murcia began with three specimens in the Puentes reservoir; a male is missing that they will bring on Monday
The historic return of the Iberian lynx to the Region of Murcia begins this Thursday with the arrival of three specimens to two acclimatization fences installed in the Puentes reservoir (Lorca). To complete the first two pairs of ‘Lorca” lynxes, one male is missing, which will be introduced on Monday in the controlled space that is intended for the cats to acclimatize before their release into the wild, in a few months.
The delay in the arrival of the fourth specimen is due to last-minute complications related to the captive breeding centers from which they come, in Jaén and Portugal, the regional government informs LA VERDAD. When these four lynxes are released, before the summer, another two pairs will arrive, with whom the process, known as ‘soft’ release, will be repeated.
The president of the Autonomous Community, Fernando López Miras, will participate in the release of the lynx in the security enclosures where they will be permanently monitored and where they have shelters and ponds. Rabbits have also been introduced into these fenced spaces so that they can feed during this period of adaptation.
The territory selected for the return of the lynx to the Region is a large set of public forests and protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network in the Sierras del Gigante and Pericay, Lomas del Buitre, Luchena and Torrecilla, in the upper districts of Lorca (Zarcilla de Ramos, La Paca, Zarzadilla de Totana, Ortillo, Henares, La Tova and other towns). This location, in one of the most unpopulated enclaves in the Region, borders the municipalities of Caravaca de la Cruz, Cehegín and Bullas, and the Sierra María-Los Vélez Natural Park (Almería).
The Region joined the national recovery strategy for Iberian lynx populations, led by the Junta de Andalucía, more than ten years ago. An ambitious project generously financed by the European Commission (the investment is close to one hundred million) with which the ‘Lynx pardinus’ has been saved from extinction, since a little more than two decades ago there were only about one hundred specimens left in the wild and already there are more than 1,400 in nature: in Andalusia, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, southern Portugal and now the Region of Murcia.
#Lorca #lynx #arrive #Thursday