Get you up to speed: Lynx ‘shot dead by hunter’ months after re-introduction to the wild | News World
A hunter is under investigation for allegedly shooting Woodstock, an Iberian Lynx, in Tordehumos, near Valladolid, Spain. Authorities found the animal dead on a hunting reserve after its GPS tracking device stopped registering movements on September 21.
The hunter is also under investigation for the death of a domestic cat in the same area. Woodstock’s GPS tracking device ceased functioning on September 21, prompting specialists from the National Heritage Foundation to investigate the absence of movements.
The Guardia Civil is investigating a hunter for allegedly shooting Woodstock, an Iberian Lynx recently reintroduced into the wild, alongside a separate probe for the death of a domestic cat. Authorities have retrieved the animal’s corpse from a hunting reserve and specialists from the National Heritage Foundation were notified after the lynx’s GPS device ceased functioning in September.
What remains unclear — It is not specified whether the investigation will lead to criminal charges against the hunter for the alleged shootings.
Hunter investigated for alleged shooting of Iberian lynx reintroduced to wild
A huntsman is under investigation for allegedly shooting an Iberian Lynx, a species previously under threat of extinction (Picture: Guardia Civil)
A hunter is being investigated after an animal which had recently been released was found shot dead.
Authorities found Woodstock, an Iberian Lynx, dead in Tordehumos near Valladolid in Spain’s autonomous community of Castilla y Leon, months after it had been re-introduced into the wild as part of a national scheme.
According to the Guardia Civil, the same huntsman is also being probed forkilling a domestic cat.
Specialists from the National Heritage Foundation were alerted to Woodstock after his GPS tracking device stopped registering movements on September 21.
Police have released a picture showing the animal within the target of a gun visor scope at night.
The lynx, named Woodstock, had been released to the wild only several months before he was found dead in September (Picture: Guardia Civil)
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The animal’s corpse was later discovered on a hunting reserve in the area of Medina de Rioseco.
Woodstock was one of several Iberian Lynxes re-introduced to nature near Palencia in central Spain last spring.
Endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, Iberian Lynxes were in decline for much of the 20th century primarily due to overhunting, poaching, and destruction of natural habitats, but have since made a revival thanks to conservation measures.
Laws passed during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship encouraged people to hunt and eat lynxes, classifying them as ‘vermin’.
The cats were also prized by hunters for their valuable fur coats.
The species is currently ‘vulnerable’ according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but was on the verge of becoming extinct at the turn of the century.
Since then, an estimated population of just 93 individuals has swelled to more than 2,000.
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