The Iberian lynx has just been allocated a 2,000 hectare protected space in which to live, hunt and hopefully to breed. The added bonus fir this rare species is a ready supply of plump, unsuspecting rabbits courtesy of the ICNF.
A meeting in Mértola, chaired by the Secretary of State for Planning and Nature Conservation, saw the first protocols agreed between the Institute of Nature Conservation and Forestry (ICNF) and the owners of land where the lynx will be able to roam freely without being shot at.
With the signing of these protocols, the landowners also should benefit as by maintaining their land as natural lynx habitat they will attract tourists keen to spot a lynx in the wild, according to the ICNF which points to the successful programme in Spain where landowners have benfited.
The conservation area for the Iberian lynx was established with the signing of the National Agreement for the Conservation of Lynx Ibéico, which now has been endorsed by the municipalities of Penamacor, Moura, and Silves, and by the hunting associations in these areas.
At the Mértola meeting, Miguel de Castro Neto also approved the SOS Coelho Bravo project which aims to increase and maintain the rabbit population in the areas where lynx are released.
This bunny breeding programme is being funded by the ICNF to the tune of €180,000 and aims to find strategies to increase and then stabilise the rabbit population, rabbit being the preferred food source of the lynx.
