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ARCHIVED - Spain installs traffic light system to protect endangered Iberian lynx
Road traffic accidents are the biggest threat to the big cat species in Spain
Spain is employing a novel high-tech system to protect the Iberian lynx, one of the world’s most endangered big cat species: traffic lights to help the animal cross busy roads safely.
The main cause of mortality of Spain’s emblematic lynx is road traffic accidents, which kill around 40 of the animals each year. The new initiative involves installing infrared sensors and thermic cameras at spots where the cat is known to cross, which message a warning back to the control centre when a lynx approaches the road.
The system will then alert approaching drivers to slow down and can actually tell if cars have exceeded the speed limit.
As recently as 2002 the Iberian lynx was classified as “critically endangered” with only 94 of the cats alive, but today the population is booming in Spain, particularly in Andalucía, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha, while new breeding pairs are being introduced in the Region of Murcia.
There are now around 1,100 of these big cats in Spain and Portugal.
Experts working with the Life LynxConnect programme track the felines through their GPS collars and the new traffic light system also incorporates road signs around known lynx habitats, warning motorists to slow down.
“Today, the greatest threats to the lynx are getting run over and also because of persecution by hunters. It is, of course, difficult to stop these animals from getting knocked down,” Guillermo López, a veterinarian who works with Life LynxConnect, explained.
“This virtual programme has been started to try to provide safe crossings for lynx which tries to warn drivers if there is fauna nearby.”
The Life Safe Crossing programme has the backing of the EU and has already been successfully used in Italy, Romania and Greece to protect their dwindling brown bear populations.
Andalucía, which is home to the largest lynx population in Spain, has invested 370,000 euros in the project.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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