In conservation milestone, Iberian lynx pulled from endangered list

OVIEDO, Spain

The Iberian lynx has gone from the brink of extinction to no longer being considered endangered, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced on Thursday.

While the species is still classified as “vulnerable,” its population jumped from just 94 in 2002 to more than 2,000 in 2024.

Until the 19th century, its population thrived across Spain and Portugal. However, according to the Artemisan Foundation, its numbers crashed between 1940 to 1990, leaving just two groups left in the south of Spain.

As was the case for other species, the lynxes were harmed by the shrinking and fragmentation of their territories, hit by cars, vulnerable to traps and even hunted until 1973.

At the same time, a disease significantly reduced the local European rabbit population, which accounts for 80-99% of its diet, according to the IUCN.

By the 1990s, the Iberian lynx was considered the most at-risk wild cat in the world, according to the Artemisan Foundation.

But that status rang alarm bells and kicked off a successful decades-long effort to revive the population.

President of Andalusia Juanma Moreno celebrated the species’ removal from the endangered list, attributing the success to Life Lynxconnect.

Life Lynxconnect is a transnational project, co-financed by the EU.

With such meager numbers, the lynx population suffered from low genetic diversity, so conservationists focused on releasing breeding females into the wild, which began in 2011.

“The beginnings were really tough, but we couldn’t waste time. We had to change the system and learn how to get them to thrive in captivity and later prepare the cubs to live in the wild,” Miguel Angel Simon, one of the project’s heads, told Spanish daily El Pais.

But it was not until 2017, when the females born in the wild began to breed that the population really took off, Ramon Perez de Ayala of the WWF, told El Pais.

“It’s very positive news, but we shouldn’t give ourselves any metals. This occurred thanks to a team that had more than 100 people,” added Simon, pointing out the “horrible” conditions that existed when the project began.

The conservation project has a budget of €18.7 million ($20 million), according to the Life Lynxconnect website.

Simon said the success of increasing the population is good news for the lynx as well as the broader ecosystems “because it shows they are in good condition, but there is still a long path to travel.”