The new Iberian Lynx Training and Recovery Complex (CTRLI) was publicly presented today in Silves, at the facilities of the breeding center for this endangered species, located in the parish of São Bartolomeu de Messines, in the interior of the municipality.
The official opening of this new facility at the National Iberian Lynx Reproduction Center, which cost around 600 euros, took place a few hours after the release of two more specimens of this species in Alcoutim, the lynxes Sidra and Salão, into nature.
Both the release of the lynx and the presentation of the training complex were attended by Duarte Cordeiro, Minister of the Environment and Climate Action, and João Paulo Catarino, Secretary of State for Nature Conservation. In Silves, the Mayor Rosa Palma was also present, as well as the top managers of the ICNF, the president of the CCDR Algarve, among other entities.
The construction of the Iberian Lynx Training and Recovery Complex started in October 2018 (after the destruction of part of the center caused by the fire the previous summer), and was completed in 2019.
«This equipment makes it possible, through the two training pens, to verify that the young lynxes destined for release in the natural habitat (at about 10 months of age) have adequate physical and behavioral conditions for their subsequent survival, as well as to train and reinforce behaviors that make them more resilient in the face of the stimuli and risk factors that will arise in a natural environment not humanly controlled, when the release occurs (between 11 and 12 months of age)», explains the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests, which manage the playback center.
The CTRLI also makes it possible to «temporarily welcome, treat and recover specimens of Iberian lynx, from nature, sick or injured, and that present viable recovery conditions, in biosafety conditions, that is, without interfering with the physical and with the management operations of specimens held in captivity - parents and young or juveniles».
As for the release of two more specimens of the Iberian lynx in the Algarve, it took place this Tuesday between Pereiro and Fonte Zambujeiro de Cima, «in one of the areas of natural expansion of the population constituted in the area of reintroduction of the Iberian lynx, in the Guadiana Valley. ».
This was the second release that took place outside the Alentejo region, since the beginning of the project to reintroduce the species into national territory, after took place in February and that the Sul Informação followed.
Two Iberian lynxes were reintroduced into the wild: Sidra (young female, daughter of Narina and Paíño) and Salao (young male, son of Omeya and Norteño), aged 13 months, from the Centro de Cría del Lince-Ibérico de Zarza of Granadilla, in Cáceres (Extremadura).
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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