Respected naturalists and wildlife photographers Angelo Gandolfi and Elisabeth van Lersel, embarked on a journey through southern France, Spain and Portugal discovering large predators, such as wolves, and look at their impact on the environment and the human communities sharing the same ecosystems. Here's what they write in part four of their diary extract.
An Almo Nature Farmers&Predators-aligned project
A not entirely “natural" habitat
We found it disturbing that Iberian Lynx conservation was not being carried out in the vast natural areas that still exist in Spain ( we talked about this previously), but instead in an area where, whatever route you take whether on foot or by car, you will always find yourself surrounded by unpassable high fences bearing a sign saying: “ coto privado de caza" (private hunting ground).There is also the Virgen de la Cabeza sanctuary high up on a hill in the middle of an area densely populated by Lynx. Seen on the map, you would think Virgen de la Cabeza looks like a small, old rural chapel, when in fact it is more like an oversized tower, that during major events hosts more than 300.000 devotees. That's right, you read it correctly, within a few hectares you can see a crowd the size of an entire city gathering.
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Lynx conversation efforts
The population of the wolf can be restored with the arrival of new specimens from the North, however about ten years ago people noticed there weren't any Iberian Lynx left, apart from two small groups in Andalusia, one in the Sierra Morena and one at the Coto Doñana National Park. No one was doing any fieldwork, people thought there were lynx in Estremadura, Portugal and elsewhere, but they were actually extinct in those regions.Luckily, the protection and repopulation program, though late, did succeed. From fewer than a hundred specimens, over 500 lynx now live in the region: 200 in Andujar, around 80 in the east (at Carolina and Despeñaperros), a further 80 in the Coto Doñana, as well as some groups scattered across the mountains of Toledo, in Southern Portugal and in Estremadura.Overall, reintroducing the lynx was a pretty complex operation despite the fact the wild cat doesn't face as many enemies and prejudices as the wolf does.|
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Man and the balance of nature: preservers and destroyers
In the heart of the park is the popular beach resort of Matalascañas, which Wikipedia estimates has just 800 inhabitants. But in the summer, tens of thousands of people visit resulting in lanes of cars driving at insane speeds, meaning the local lynx are in real jeopardy.This situation necessitates the use of fences and construction of over/underpasses, that are highly expensive and hard to upkeep.|
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