This is a conservation roundup; a double whammy in conservation of two entirely different species found in entirely different areas. I would like to update readers on the successful conservation of the Iberian lynx which lives in southern Spain and Portugal followed by a project to reintroduce the grizzly bear into the North Cascades National Park in America where it was once very prevalent.
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Iberian lynx
There was a time when the Iberian lynx was labelled as the world’s most endangered feline but no longer. The Spanish and Portuguese got to the point where, through a variety of factors, the Iberian lynx population had dropped to 62 adults in 2001 but now thanks to a widespread conservation effort the number sits at a far more respectable 2,000.
The Iberian lynx is one of four lynx species and you might know that it is a medium-sized wildcat native to quite a small area in southern Spain and Portugal. I drew a map to illustrate its distribution many years ago which is reproduced on this page below.
This is the range of the critically endangered Iberian Lynx. I have followed the verbal description of the IUCN Red List distribution. The IUCN Red List map is too hard to follow accurately. The red line covers the area as drawn (and more) from the Red List map and the blue area on the coast follows the boundaries of the park. See Iberian Lynx on the website for more info on this. The green area is where it once was an is no extinct and the red area is the boundary of it distribution
There was a combination of reasons for the decline in numbers to the point where they were critically endangered such as:
- The Iberian lynx was historically hunted and considered an attractive hunting trophy but they have been protected from poaching since the early 1970s. Although there is a low level of poaching even today. Humankind has a habit of hunting the rarest of species.
- The lynx also still falls victim to traps and snares set for other animals.
- Populations of its primary prey, the European rabbit, suffered from several epidemics which produced the numbers which made it much harder for the lynx to survive as it depended upon the European rabbit as the primary prey animal.
- The Iberian lynx’s habitat was severely reduced and fragmented by human development. In 2005 the entire population was forced to live in just 19 mi².
In a Times report, Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List unit said:
“Conservation efforts have focused on restoring the European rabbit population, creating corridors for the lynx to move between habitable areas and reintroducing young lynx to areas from breeding programs. This is great news which, hot on the heels of the European Parliament announcing the nature restoration law, gives us a moment of cautious optimism.”
He cautioned that the lynx are still vulnerable to big fluctuations in the abundance of its prey and traffic collisions which apparently and sadly kill lots of Iberian lynx. As a consequence of this conservation success, the Red List has downgraded the Iberian lynx’s classification in terms of survival from endangered to vulnerable. But it still faces a high risk of extinction in the wild under this classification.
Grizzly bear
There are plans afoot according to another Times report from the United States that grizzly bears are going to be transported by helicopter to the North Cascades National Park in Washington state which is a natural home for the grizzly bear and had been for millennia. The rewilding will be gradual with 3-5 each year to reach 25. The bears will come from Glacier National Park in Montana, Yellostone in Wyoming and across the border in British Columbia.
This is a 505,000 acre wilderness. It’s a hundred miles north-east of Seattle and it is a park which is relatively rarely visited but people do live adjacent to it and they are concerned about this plan.
The park has snowcapped mountains and an ideal habitat for grizzly bears. Black bears, coyotes and wolves live there. The grizzly population was devastated by overhunting. The last individual grizzly bear was seen in the park in 1996.
There’s been lots of debate about this conservation project and research. But finally a decision has been made to reintroduce them which is being celebrated by conservationists but has resulted in anxiety for ranchers and farmers.
The residents who I presume either live inside the this national park or on its borders, say, in general, that they don’t want the grizzlies in their backyard because they fear that it will eat their livestock and threaten people.
Grizzly bears do have a reputation because of their enormous size but they are essentially herbivores and there’s a big argument that the bears would restore the balance of the ecosystem and in addition it would right and historic wrong i.e. being hunted to extinction in the area.
There is sufficient food in the park to feed up to 300 grizzlies and unlike, as mentioned, their Alaskan cousins which eat salmon, these grizzlies have a 90% plant-based diet. Meat is not a major part of their diet.
Jason Ransom, wildlife program supervisor for the North Cascades is unsurprised at the vociferous objections but believes that they are based on misinformation about the grizzly. He added that “Bears elicited a lot of emotions. There so many stories about bears. They’re all over Disney and everything else, right? And some of that comes with reputations that may not be deserved.”
The locals are convinced that the grizzlies will come down and eat their cattle or they will push the black bears down towards their ranches as they try and avoid the grizzlies.
Ransom said that:
“The important fact is that meat is not a huge part of their diet; they are not wolves. So I think there is a confusion of this predator role, and grizzly bears get lumped in with the carnivores, and they are not really.”
There were consultations which started in 2014. 88% of those with Washington postcodes were in favour of the reintroduction. And fatal bear attacks are rare. From 2020 to 2022 six people in the US were killed in a grizzly bear attack and two were mauled to death by black bears.
It’s a question of taking precautions and respecting that if you walk into the park, it’s the habitat of bears and you should have a plan to protect yourself. You are in their environment, says Jeff King, a tourist from Charlotte, North Carolina who backs the reintroduction.
And Ransom doubts that there will be problems because the chances of encountering a grizzly will be extremely slim given the size of this park. He added that “When there is deep wilderness, that’s the area the bears are going to stick to. People have this idea that grizzly bears are going to seek people out and cause chaos. But they really don’t want anything to do with us.”
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Thanks for this. I like to hear about successful conservation. It is much needed.