Captive breeding scheme aims to save endangered lynx

The Spanish government and the regional authorities in Andalusia have finally reached agreement on a programme to breed the threatened Iberian lynx in captivity.

Naturalists say numbers of this endangered species are so low the scheme is the only way to save Europe's sole wildcat. Spain's Environment Ministry has pledged €3.6m (£2.5m), and the Andalusian government is to provide 12 lynxes, five male and seven female, for breeding. They will be held in the Coto Doñana natural park at the mouth of the Guadal-quivir river, habitat of those remaining in the wild.

The problem will be to find them. So few remain, park keepers know them by name: the females are Esperanza, Saliega, Morena and Aurea. The male intended to impregnate them died of TB, and others have been run over.