The Iberlince project concludes this season’s releases in Andalusia with the release of a male specimen in the Guadalmellato reintroduction area

A male Iberian lynx named 'Opilano' was released this afternoon at the Las Ventillas estate, located in the Villafranca de Córdoba municipality, within the Guadalmellato reintroduction area (Córdoba). With 'Opilano', the area’s release season comes to its conclusion, where a total of three lynxes have been released, two males and one female.

These three specimens ('Omeya', Oxyura 'and' Opilano '), genetically selected to enrich the genetic variability in this area, were added to the existing Iberian lynx population in Guadalmellato, which, according to the latest data census carried out by the Iberlince project (pertaining to 2017), now amounts to 63 individuals.

The proceedings, headed by the Minister of Environment and Territorial Planning, José Fiscal, along with his counterpart from Castilla-La Mancha, Francisco Martínez Arroyo, were attended by students from two schools in Villafranca de Córdoba, some of which 'baptized' the released specimen as 'Opilano' (whose name commemorates the first character in the history of Villafranca de Córdoba) during the #BautizaUnLince campaign.

The last of the seven lynxes released this year in the Andalusian region, 'Opilano' comes from El Acebuche captive breeding centre (Huelva), located in the Doñana National Park, and is a direct descendant of the female 'Homer' and of the male 'Esparto'.

Guadalmellato Valley wasn’t randomly selected for reintroduction, since this area, along with that of the Guarrizas Valley (Jaén), was selected due to its habitat quality, high volume of wild rabbit populations and strong social support for reintroduction, including the collaboration of estate owners, private companies and hunting societies that manage lands where the lynx population group is concentrated.

On another note, it is worth remembering that specimen reintroduction into the wild was a cornerstone in the species’ recovery, whose population has gone from 92 specimens in 2002 - only present in Andalusia - to 600 lynxes distributed throughout the Peninsula, specifically, in Castilla-La Mancha - in Montes de Toledo and Sierra Morena Oriental -, Extremadura, Vale de Guadiana, in Portugal, and in the Andalusian region.