15/03/2005– WWF is renewing
its call to limit road traffic in the Doñana
National Park region, following the death
of another endangered Iberian lynx.
Road accidents have become the primary cause
of lynx mortality rates and represent an important
threat to already reduced populations of the
species.
According to the most recent comprehensive
survey conducted in 2004 by the Spanish government,
only two isolated breeding populations of
Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) remain in southern
Spain, totalling about 100 animals, with only
25 breeding females.
As recently as two years ago, there were
believed to have been at least 160 lynx.
The most recent victim, a two-year old male,
was killed on the road from Matalascanas to
El Rocio, making it the 14th lynx killed by
a car in the Doñana National Park area
over the past five years. There are about
20–25 individuals remaining in this area,
with only five breeding females.
"The lynx in Doñana are one of
last of two viable populations in the world
and could dissappear within the next ten years,"
said Luis Suarez, Head of WWF-Spain's species
programme.
WWF-Spain is calling for an emergency plan
to conserve the Iberian lynx population as
called for in Spanish law, a plan that should
tackle all main threats to the species' survival,
including reducing the impact of road traffic.
WWF-Spain has recently launched a web campaign
to close the Villamanrique–El Rocio road,
which crosses the heart of Doñana Natural
Park and fragments critical lynx habitat.
The global conservation organization has also
expressed concerns over plans to develop the
Matalascanas–El Rocio road into a highway,
which would further increase car traffic in
the area.
“If the local authorities are not capable
of stopping the increasing mortality of lynx
in Doñana, especially by cars and other
human activities, then all efforts to save
this species will be useless,” Suarez stressed.
