Alex Trelinski
AN ENVIRONMENTAL group is demanding special road warning signs after three rare Iberian lynxes were run over in the space of a few days on Andalucia roads.
41 lynxes have died this way in the region since February.
Ecologists in Action say a lynx was run over on the A-6106 in La Carolina (Jaen) on Wednesday.
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- Spain’s Iberian lynx is no longer at risk of extinction following years of conservation efforts
- Two Iberian lynxes fatally struck by vehicles in Spain’s Doñana Area, prompting calls for enhanced road safety
Last Sunday two died, one in Doñana, on the asphalted road between Villamanrique and Hato Raton, and the other in the Sierra Morena, on the A-305 from Porcuna to Arjona.
Half of the Iberian lynxes that die are killed on Andalucian roads, despite the fact that the region ‘has invested and is currently investing several tens of millions of euros, adding European and own funds, in the Life Iberlince, Life Safe-Crossing and Life Lynxconnect projects’, according to the group.
They have criticised the recent reduction of the species’ extinction threat category on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species from ‘endangered’ to ‘vulnerable’ as doing the Iberian lynx a ‘disservice’.
The fall is down to the increase in the number of lynxes in the last 20 years thanks to reintroduction and captive breeding projects, but Ecologists in Action say it ignores the rise in deaths caused by infrastructures and human activity.
They’ve warned the Iberian lynx could return to the brink if it is not bred in captivity.
A statement from the group said: “The Andalucian government maintains an attitude of inaction on roads to permeate the passage of fauna and reinforce road safety.”
“The black spots have been perfectly identified for some time now,” it added.
It has demanded ‘signage aimed at drivers, so that they adapt their journey to the needs of the road, instead of the current trend to use horns and headlights to scare away animals’.
Ecologists in Action plan to contact ‘competent European authorities’ with a request that an independent audit be carried out on measures adopted to improve road safety and reduce accidents.
