Cristina Hodgson
TWO Iberian lynxes have been run over and killed on roads in the Doñana Nature Reserve in Andalucia.
Ecologists in Action said in a statement that both incidents took place on Wednesday, one on the road between Villamanrique (Sevilla) and Hinojos (Huelva) taking the life of a female lynx, and another on the A-483 which connects El Rocio with Almonte (Huelva) in which a young male wildcat died.
The two accidents take the death toll of wildcats in the Doñana area to seven so far this year.
Ecologistas en Accion sent out a message to the citizens of the Doñana region, saying: “We must be alert and take extreme precautions on local roads, paying special attention to speed reduction, even though vehicle traffic is lower due to the extraordinary situation of the pandemic”.
The ecologists have highlighted black spots in areas which see a high number of accidents, requesting a revision to the road signs and speed controls to better protect the wildlife.
In 2019, at least 23 lynxes were killed in road accidents in Andalucia and 35 in the whole of Spain.
That said, 2019 was, in general, a positive year for the lynx, with an estimated 150 believed to have been born across the Iberian peninsula.
The Iberian lynx isn’t the only species considered vulnerable in Spain, the population of the Cantabrian brown bear diminished to just 80 in the 1960s. The current population is estimated at 350.
The Spanish Imperial eagle has also seen a recovery from a scarce 60 in the 1960s to some 400 in recent years, though the eagle is still vulnerable to hunting, deforestation and chemical contamination.
