The Office will reintroduce the first six specimens of Iberian lynx into the Cerrato de Palencia in spring 2025, from the captive breeding program of the species, as agreed yesterday during the meeting of the working group on this animal, depending on the Flora and Fauna Committee, organized in Madrid at the headquarters of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, in the presence of technicians from the regional government.
The basic reasons for proposing and requesting this reintroduction area were the greater abundance of rabbit populations and brushwood, the better data obtained on social attitude towards reintroduction and a larger area of land on which collaboration agreements have been signed. with the project, as indicated by the Council.
This is the result of the work carried out by the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Planning for more than two years in the identified territories of Cerrato Palentino and Cañones del Duero, in Zamora, where in addition to the works techniques, an “intense work” of public participation. An area studied in the Cerrato de Palencia was confirmed in the surroundings of the municipalities of Astudillo, Villalaco, Torquemada and Villamediana, among others, and an abundance of rabbits from 57 latrines per kilometer was described in the best 10,000 hectares proposed, opposite 25 in Zamora.
In contrast, the social outcome of the reintroduction in Palencia was very favorable, with 93 percent of respondents in favor of the project, compared to 59 percent in Zamora. Letters of support or signatures of agreements were also obtained from landowners or reserve holders on 72 percent of the proposed area in Palencia, compared to 21 percent in Zamora.
With the approval of the reintroduction of the species, an important step is taken in the recovery of the Iberian lynx in the Iberian Peninsula. This is the first reintroduction zone in the northern half of the peninsula and occurs approximately half a century after the disappearance of the lynx from the Castellana plateau, “excellent news”, as described by the Minister of Environment, Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones. , in statements collected by Ical, in which he adds that this area of the Cerrato is “ideal” to shelter the species which, with the positive acceptance of society, constituted “an unbeatable application that was accepted”.
Regarding Zamora, the Council presented the report for the selection of the reintroduction area, where, despite compliance with the technical criteria defined in the national protocol, the reintroduction will only begin after achieving greater social consensus, as established it by the Council itself. .
