Dimitris Kouimtsidis
A ROW has broken out between the Junta de Andalucia and a local businessman over the validity of a lynx video.
The Ministry of Environment has dismissed claims that video footage of a rare lynx was filmed in the Serrania de Ronda.
The video of the endangered wild cat went viral after businessman Enrique Ruiz posted it on the social media account of his vineyard business, the Bodega Antigua Real Fabrica de San Miguel de Ronda.
In what could be just a PR stunt to attract more customers, Ruiz claimed that a German tourist named Mandfred had gone hiking in the area between Farajan and Juzcar and spotted the endangered mammal.
The Spanish businessman told Diario Sur: “I took him to Alpandeire myself and he wanted to walk back to the bodega.
“When he returned he showed me the video, thinking that these animals were common here and I told him they weren’t,” he added.
The Junta however disputes the story, stating that lynxes do not live in these parts of the region, but that the video was in fact filmed in Sevilla or Huelva.
It argues this point by using the vegetation observed in the recording and the animal’s behaviour as reasons why the footage may not have been filmed in Ruiz’s vineyard.
Ruiz said: “Perhaps they should do more hiking and see the wonders we have in the area.
“I love seeing how they manage the environment from an office.
“If they decree that there was no lynx, there was no lynx.”
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