IBERIAN LYNX SPECIMEN – LITIO – RELEASED IN PORTUGAL FOR THE THIRD TIME

Litio, a male Iberian lynx born in Andalusia, Spain, in 2014, at the El Acebuche Captive Breeding Centre, was released in May 2015, in the Guadiana Valley, near Mértola, within the scope of the project "Recovery of the historical distribution of Lynx pardinus in Spain and Portugal (LIFE+10/NAT/ES/000570 - Iberlince).

In May of 2016, some time after his collar’s tracking signal was lost, he was located in the Huelva region, in Gibraleón. Once captured, he regained his health at CREA (Huelva) and was again released in the Guadiana Valley, in October 2016.

The new collar worked up until early 2017, and its last signal situated Litio in the Algarve, near Portimão.
At the end of May of this year, he was sighted in the vicinity of Barcelona, where he was captured by Technicians of the Regional Government of Andalusia and the Catalonia Government, on June 6th, 2018.

In the meantime, he was subjected to a wide range of analyses at the Torreferrusa Wildlife Recovery Centre in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda (Barcelona), by Technicians and Veterinarians of the Catalan Recovery Centre and the Andalusian Iberian lynx monitoring team, which concluded with an entirely favourable diagnosis of his health. As a result, he was transferred to CREA "El Blanqueo", in Granada.

In accordance with the agreements and technical protocols established between the two Iberian States, the specimen was delivered to the DCNF-Alentejo technical services, of the ICNF, by the Regional Government of Andalusia, and subsequently released in the Guadiana Valley area, yesterday, July 2nd.