Portugal Travel

Scientists say building projects sponsored by the European Union (EU) have contributed to the near extinction of the Iberian Lynx, which could well be the first big cat to vanish since the sabre-tooth tiger. Since Spain and Portugal joined the EU, new roads, railways lines and dams have restricted the last habitats of the lynx.

Last week Portugal officially declared the lynx 'virtually extinct' in that country while experts warn that none of the remaining populations in Spain are ecologically viable.

The lynx pardinus, which once ranged across the north coast of the Mediterranean, is now down to just three breeding populations in the mountains of the eastern Sierra Morena, northern Andalucia and the Donana National Park south of Seville. Over the past decade the total population has plummeted from 1200 to 200. Earlier this year, the Spanish government announced an €8m (US$7.6m) plan to help save the endangered cat. It aims to raise lynxes in captivity – principally at a zoo in the southern town of Jerez – and protect the refuges where they still live. But environmentalists fear the plan offers too little too late