Large cats native to Spain, Portugal
Triplets born in captivity in Spain first gave new hope for the survival of the Iberian lynx, only weeks after wildlife experts warned it could become the first large cat to be wiped out since prehistoric times.
The three cubs were born Monday in a large enclosure in the Donana national park to mother Saliega and father Garfio, the environment ministry said.
The parents had been caught in the Sierra Morena region and taken to the El Acebuche captivity centre in the park in south-western Spain in January 2003 and February 2004 respectively.
There are as few as 100 to 120 of the leopard-spotted cats in the wild, including around a dozen breeding-age females, from about 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century, the latest report by SOS Lynx found.
Hunting, road deaths, and most of all a sharp drop due to disease in the number of wild rabbits, the lynx’s main prey, has led to the disappearance of the cat, it said.The nocturnal cat, which can grow to about one meter (three feet) long and weigh about 13 kilogrammes (29 pounds) — about the size of a domestic dog -lives in scrub forest in southern Portugal and south-western Spain, near some of Europe’s most popular tourist resorts.
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