The Iberian lynx, sometimes called “Europe’s tiger,” is the world’s most endangered wildcat and may go extinct within a decade unless serious efforts are made to protect its habitat, the World Wildlife Fund warned yesterday. The Iberian lynx population has declined drastically in recent decades, WWF said, now numbering about 500 to 600 in Spain and fewer than 50 in Portugal. Its range shrank by 80 percent between 1960 and 1990. The lynx has suffered as new development projects have encroached on its territory and as the population of rabbits, its preferred prey, has fallen. The Spanish government has earmarked some 6,200 square miles of land for lynx sanctuaries, but WWF says nearly twice that much land is needed.
