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El lince ibérico o lince español o lince sardo o lince ibérico (Lynx pardinus) es una especie de la clase de mamíferos del orden carnívoros de la familia Felidae.
Anteriormente, el lince ibérico se consideraba una subespecie del lince común. Hoy en día, se ha demostrado que son dos especies diferentes que evolucionaron independientemente una de la otra durante la época del Pleistoceno.
Se diferencia del lince Ibérico (Lynx lynx) en Tamaño y color más claro con manchas pronunciadas, lo que le da un parecido con el color del leopardo. En invierno, la piel se empaña y se vuelve más delgada. El lince ibérico español es dos veces más pequeño que el lince común y, por lo tanto, caza principalmente caza menor: liebres y conejos, solo ocasionalmente atacando a las crías de ciervos.
El lince ibérico se encuentra en el suroeste de España, aunque inicialmente estaba muy extendido en España y Portugal. Ahora su área de distribución está limitada a terreno montañoso.
El lince ibérico es una de las especies de mamíferos más raras. En la actualidad, el lince ibérico solo se puede encontrar en algunas áreas del sur de España y en las llanuras costeras de Sierra morena y Doñana.
El lince ibérico español es una de las especies de mamíferos más raras. Según estimaciones para 2005, su población es de solo 100 individuos.
Según algunos científicos, el lince ibérico podría extinguirse en 50 años. Los hallazgos de los investigadores se publican en la revista Nature Climate Change.
¡La causa de la inminente muerte del lince ibérico no son los cazadores! Se interrumpe la dieta natural debido a la disminución de la población de conejo salvaje, que constituye el 80-99% de su dieta. El conejo salvaje, a su vez, se extingue debido a la sobrepesca, la mixomatosis (introducida en 1952 desde Francia a España).
El lince ibérico está Incluido en el Anexo I CITES de la Unión mundial para la naturaleza (UICN), en la categoría I (animales en peligro de extinción).
Animal welfare organisations speak out against German outdoor cat ban
Cat owners in the German town of Walldorf have been ordered this week to keep their pets indoors until the end of August to protect a rare bird during its breeding season.
The decree is designed to help save the crested lark, which makes its nest on the ground and is therefore easy prey for feline hunters.
The bird’s population in Western Europe has declined sharply in recent decades. Although it is listed as a species of least concern in Europe by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"Among other things, the survival of the species depends on every single chick," authorities in Walldorf said.
The rule applies to all cats in the southern part of the town and will be repeated for the next three years from April to August.
Should I keep my cat indoors?
If you live in Walldorf the decision is no longer in your hands. But for those elsewhere the answer may not be so clear-cut.
“Suddenly preventing cats that are used to going outside from doing so, means immense restrictions and stress for the animals,” Deutscher Tierschutzbund, Germany’s largest animal welfare organisation, said in a statement to Euronews Green.
"The negative influence of cats on the population of songbirds is in any case controversial and, to our knowledge, has not yet been proven for the crested lark in Walldorf."
The organisation supports measures to protect the crested lark but believes no animal can be treated as second class.
“Defining domestic cats as 'culprits' for the endangerment of certain bird species also means letting them take the blame for the fact that humans have destroyed habitats and food supplies for wild species over a long period of time, thus threatening their existence,” the statement concludes.
This sentiment is echoed by Daniela Schneider, a campaigner for Four Paws Germany.
“The influence of intensified agriculture, monocultures, insect mortality, and increasing land development is probably greater than that of some cats hunting birds,” she tells Euronews Green.
“These causes are caused by humans. It would be better to fight the actual causes than to blame cats for this.”
Are cats a danger to wildlife?
The debate over whether cats should be free to roam can be a controversial one. The European Pet Food Industry found that 26 per cent of all households in Europe own at least one cat. This inevitably leads to a quarter of the population having strong feelings on the matter.
A study in 2013 estimated that free-ranging domestic cats in the US alone kill around 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals annually. However, the authors acknowledged that unowned cats cause the majority of this mortality.
The most recent figures from the Mammal Society say that cats in the UK catch up to 100 million animals over spring and summer, including 27 million birds. The most frequently caught species of bird according to them are house sparrows, blue tits, blackbirds and starlings.
Despite these statistics, the UK’s largest conservation charity, RSPB, says that there is no clear scientific evidence that this is causing bird populations to decline.
“Many millions of birds die naturally every year, mainly through starvation, disease or other forms of predation,'' they state on their website.
“It is likely that most of the birds killed by cats would have died anyway from other causes before the next breeding season, so cats are unlikely to have a major impact on populations.”
In Walldorf, regional newspaper Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung reported on Wednesday that the head of the local animal protection association plans to take legal steps to challenge the "disproportionate" order.
Cat owners affected by the new decree can exercise their right to object to it until mid June.
