Cristina Hodgson
AN Iberian lynx has been found roaming the streets of Rociana del Condado (Huelva), a municipality located in the Doñana area.
The alert that the wild cat was wandering through the Plaza de España in Rociana del Condado was given at 8am on Friday.
Members of the Guardia Civil’s Nature Protection Service (Seprona), together with experts from the El Acebuche breeding centre were swifty displaced to the scene in order to capture the feline.
The lynx was finally captured just over two hours later after becoming trapped in the entrance of a house.
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The animal was netted and after an initial check was safely transferred to the Centre for the Recovery of Threatened Species (CREA) in La Calatilla.
The feline is in good health and the corresponding biological samples have already been taken to try to identify it and find out more about it, as well as a rapid test for feline leukaemia, which has been negative.
The wild cat does not have a microchip but it is believed to be a young male lynx, approximately one and a half years old.
The Mayor of Rociana del Condado said that the experience of seeing the cat in the streets had been ‘surreal’.
They added it was ‘a real shock’ because the lynx is a type of animal that does not usually roam around in noisy places and does not go near towns, which is why ‘it was even more surprising’.
Sierra Morena area (Guadalmellato, Cardeña, Andujar, Guarrizas) has established itself as the main Iberian lynx territory with 356 specimens occupying 1,000 square kilometres.
The lynx population in Andalucia continues to grow, from just 94 individual species located in Andalucia in 2004 to 461 in 2019.
