Episode 160: Europe’s Big Three – Wolves, Bears, Lynx. Part 3: Spain’s Missing Lynx Makes A Cautionary Comeback

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast Title: Rewilding Earth Podcast
Episode: 160 – Europe’s Big Three: Wolves, Bears, Lynx. Part 3: Spain’s Missing Lynx Makes A Cautionary Comeback
Date: November 7, 2025
Host: Jack Humphrey
Guest Contributors: Julius Purcell (Narrator/Field Reporter), Maria Jesus Palacios (Biologist), Paul Jepson (Ecologist), Samuel Pla (CBD Habitat), Jordi Palau (Rewilding Spain), Pau Vasquez (Wolf/Bear Expert)

Main Theme:
This episode explores the extraordinary (and still precarious) recovery of the Iberian lynx in southern Spain—the world’s most endangered cat—delving into the 25-year cross-border conservation effort that brought the species back from the brink, and examining how political, cultural, and ecological challenges may shape its future. Host Jack Humphrey and field reporter Julius Purcell consider the lynx’s role in rural tradition, the delicate dance between farming and rewilding, and the mounting tension surrounding nature restoration efforts across Europe.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Cultural Framing of Carnivores (00:00–01:16, 15:08–17:41)

• Lynx as Part of Southern Spanish Identity:
  Unlike Britain, where carnivores are often framed as threats to tradition, in southern Spain the Iberian lynx is woven into local tradition and identity.

  “The lynx doesn't stand in opposition to this tradition because it's seen as a distinctly southern Spanish animal. It's a part of that tradition.” ([00:46], Narrator)

• Cultural Acceptance Key to Success:
  The lynx appears in art, literature, and even on postal stamps, representing “hope of a better Spain” and Enlightenment values (Goya’s “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters”).

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2. The Dramatic Decline and Recovery of the Iberian Lynx (02:20–07:09, 13:40–14:16)

• Near Extinction:
  Only 94 Iberian lynx remained in Spain by 2002. The species was the most endangered feline on earth.

  "By 2002, in the whole of Spain, there were only 94 Iberian links left." ([03:34], Maria Jesus Palacios)

• Conservation Coalition:
  EU-backed breeding and reintroduction projects blended genetics from isolated populations, restored rabbit populations (the lynx’s primary food source), and reconnected wilderness.

  “The plans worked… because politicians, landowners, mayors, farmers, hunters, many ordinary people came together out of love for the lynx.” ([04:31], Spanish Official via Narrator)

• Current Numbers and Hope:
  Today, over 2,000 individuals prowl the Iberian Peninsula, and in 2024 the IUCN upgraded the lynx from “endangered” to “vulnerable.”

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3. Ecological Interdependence – Rabbits, Landscapes, and a “Mosaic” Approach (07:09–12:25)

• Rabbit-Driven Recovery:
  The lynx recovery hinged not just on lynx action, but chiefly on bringing back wild rabbits decimated by disease and habitat loss.

  “Only 15 to 20 percent of our work is with the cat itself. The rest is with the rabbits.” ([Samuel Pla summary at 09:45], via narrator)

• Landscape Refashioning:
  Creating, restoring, or maintaining “mosaic” landscapes, building warrens, managing grassland, and providing water sources for rabbits became central.

  “We created… a mosaic landscape for rabbits. And where the rabbit goes… the Iberian lynx goes too.” ([10:30], Narrator/Field Report)

• Cascading Benefits:
  Lynx indirectly benefit species like the Spanish imperial eagle by increasing rabbit carcasses for scavengers and enriching the broader ecosystem.

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4. Political Shifts and Threats to Rewilding (04:56–06:45, 15:08–18:55, 24:59–29:28)

• Backlash Against Nature Restoration:
  Conservative and far-right populism in Europe has “rewilding in its sights.” Many politicians have retreated, and nature restoration faces new hostility, often grounded in misinformation.

  “Political populism has rewilding in its sights. Centrist politicians are panicking and giving way to this hostility, even though it’s often based on misinformation.” ([05:08], Narrator)

• Spain Not Immune:
  While local support in southern Spain remains strong (for now), malaise in rural communities–driven by climate stress, crime, migration, and distrust of urban elites—opens the door to “European style Trumpism,” which threatens conservation gains.
• Divergence Across Regions:
  Northern Spain sees more resistance, with failed reintroduction attempts amid landowner and farmer pushback.

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5. Contrasts with the UK: Lynx, Culture Wars, and Obstacles to Rewilding (12:25–15:08)

• Clandestine Releases and Public Debate:
  Illegal lynx releases in Scotland sparked police investigations and political denouncement.
• Rewilding as Culture War:
  In the UK, rewilding is polarized (“nature conservationists seen as urban… farmers as the problem”), entwined with Brexit-fueled divisions and British risk aversion.

  “Rewilding came in as a controversial thing… Lack of comfort of living with wild animals. So long culturally since we’ve had any wild animals that could do any harm.” ([14:38], Paul Jepson)

• Spain’s Different Path:
  Spain’s success due to consensus and a lynx culture rooted in national identity, not in opposition to tradition.

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6. The Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente Legacy (22:59–24:26)

• Nature’s Media Pioneer:
  Felix’s TV series “Man and the Earth” in the 1970s popularized wildlife appreciation under a dictatorship; his emotional storytelling changed perceptions of carnivores.

  "Us kids would be playing on the street and adults would call down, it's Felix on TV. …a voice that passed through you." ([23:08], Maria Jesus Palacios)

• Long-term Impact:

  “Those of us who were children then… were educated in the values that Felix gave us. It's one of his greatest legacies.” ([24:26], Maria Jesus Palacios)

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7. The Lynx’s Expanding Range, Adaptation, and New Challenges (26:53–34:15)

• Potential for Range Expansion:
  Jordi Palau believes lynx could reach Catalonia “on their own, but they need time.”

  “If we don't reintroduce them actively, this will be a slow process.” ([27:03], Jordi Palau)

• New Social Pressures:
  As the species expands, social resistance grows. Three of four new proposed reintroduction sites outside the typical range have failed due to local opposition.

  “As the species is growing and expanding… the risk of a different perception will increase… This is starting to happen.” ([28:38], Jordi Palau)

• A Million-Year-Old Heritage and New Discoveries:
  Archaeologists recently found a 1-million-year-old lynx skeleton, underlining the deep roots and recent near-loss of this animal.
• Extraordinary Dispersal:
  Camera traps recovered lynx named “Secreto con El” in the Pyrenees, 650 miles from where he was born, possibly tracking new prey (mountain hares) and adapting to climate and habitat change.

  “It was an absolute surprise to detect an Ivory lynx on our cover… The joy after so many disappointments was immense.” ([31:07, 33:51], Pau Vasquez)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Lynx as Tradition:

  “The lynx doesn't stand in opposition to this tradition because it's seen as a distinctly southern Spanish animal. It's a part of that tradition.” ([00:46], Narrator)

• On the Emotional Triumph of Reintroduction:

  “Every time we release a lynx into the wild now, I feel I'm going to cry with emotion.” ([03:34], Maria Jesus Palacios)

• On Britain’s Cultural Divide:

  “That's the big difference between continental Europe and the UK. Rewilding just came in as a controversial thing. …It exposes quite a lot about British risk averseness and the lack of political vision and lack of comfort of living with wild animals.” ([14:38], Paul Jepson)

• On Felix’s Influence:

  “Those of us who were children then, are the adults of now… We acted on [Felix’s] values. It's one of his greatest legacies.” ([24:26], Maria Jesus Palacios)

• On the New Political Threats:

  “Nature conservation is starting to be seen as something that maybe is not as clearly good for everybody as all we usually thought.” ([27:38], Jordi Palau)

• The Joy of Scientific Discovery:

  “The joy after so many disappointments was immense.” ([33:51], Pau Vasquez)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–01:16: Cultural framing—lynx and southern Spanish identity
• 02:20–07:09: Iberian lynx’s natural history, decline, recovery efforts
• 07:09–12:25: Rabbit recovery and landscape management: ecological mosaic
• 12:25–15:08: Contrasts with the UK—illegal lynx release, culture wars
• 15:08–18:30: Rural Spain—political malaise and threats to rewilding
• 22:59–24:26: Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente legacy, cultural shift
• 26:53–29:28: Lynx in Catalonia, shifting social attitudes
• 30:33–34:15: Lynx dispersal into the Pyrenees, adaptability, emotional highlights from field biologists

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Conclusion

This episode closes the “Big Three” carnivore series with the nuanced story of the Iberian lynx: a conservation triumph shadowed by new political winds and social tensions. The comeback is both celebration and warning—while “normals” like seeing wild animals among their olive groves, shifting attitudes and politics could yet unravel decades of work. The lynx’s persistence, adaptability, and symbolic legacy embody both the promise and fragility of Europe’s natural future.

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Transcript

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

Paul Jepson often talks about rewilding in terms of what he calls cultural framing. To many British people, carnivores such as lynx are seen as a threat to the farmer, therefore a threat to tradition and British rural culture. The cultural framing is different in southern Spain, at least when it comes to the links, and at least for the moment. This is a procession I stumbled on, where children and families are all processing behind the statue of a saint. Southern Spain is rich in rural traditions like this, but the lynx doesn't stand in opposition to this tradition because it's seen as a distinctly southern Spanish animal. It's a part of that tradition.

[Jack Humphrey (Host of Rewilding Earth podcast)]

You're listening to the Rewilding Earth podcast. I'm your host, Jack Humphrey. Welcome to the third and final episode of our special series on Europe's great carnivore comeback. In this installment, Julius Purcell travels Spain's wild Sierra Marina to witness the remarkable return of the Iberian lynx, once the world's most endangered cat. He'll uncover how a dedicated coalition of scientists, conservationists and local communities brought the lynx back from the brink and explore the challenges that still threaten its future. Along with the triumphs, Julius examines the tensions between rewilding and rural life, the shifting political landscape across Europe, and what the fate of the lynx means for the continent's broader efforts to restore nature. We close this series with a story of hope, complexity and recovering wildness at the heart of Europe.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

These are the calls of an Iberian lynx captured on a webcam high up in the oaks and pines of Spain's remote sense. Sierra Morena, cousin to the Eurasian lynx, American bobcat and Canadian lynx. The Iberian lynx is present only in Spain and Portugal, and it is the most endangered feline on Earth. Although it's quite small, the Iberian lynx exudes big cat charisma. Strong front legs, tufted ears and a manelike ruff complete its air of disdainful majesty. Its near extinction and dramatic recent recovery spark intense emotion in Spain.

[Maria Jesus Palacios (Biologist overseeing Iberian Lynx Restoration project)]

When I was a child, there were no lynxes left in Extremadura. They were a ghost on the landscape.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

Biologist Maria Jesus Palacios oversees the Iberian Links Restoration project for Spain's regional government of Extremadura.

[Maria Jesus Palacios (Biologist overseeing Iberian Lynx Restoration project)]

By 2002, in the whole of Spain, there were only 94 Iberian links left. So every time we release a lynx into the wild now, I feel I'm going to cry with emotion.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

Thanks to the 25 year project undertaken by Spain and Portugal, the Iberian Links has been brought back at least a little way from the abyss. Today, more than 2,000 of these magnificent big cuts prowl the southern Iberian Peninsula. And there's been some more good news, too. The speaker you're hearing, a colleague of Maria Jesus is briefing Spanish officials on the 2024 decision by the IUCN to reclassify Iberian links from endangered to a less drastic vulnerable. The plans worked, he's saying, because politicians, landowners, mayors, farmers, hunters, many ordinary people came together out of love for the link. As Spaniards and Portuguese, he's saying, we can be proud of being a part of one of the most successful conservation projects in the world. But amid the joy is apprehension because, as we've seen in the two previous episodes on bears and wolves, the reintroduction of carnivores across Europe over the last 20 years is now facing a backlash. Political populism has rewilding in its sights, will be turned over to rewilding just left to go wild, far right. Hostility to nature restoration is cutting through to voters. Centrist politicians are panicking and giving way to this hostility, even though it's often based on misinformation. You just couldn't make it up, could you? Thank you. Nigel Farage is coming to Australia. Ecologists like Maria Jesus fear that huge progress in European rewilding is now on the line. And even the success story of the Iberian links doesn't have a guaranteed happy ending. It's a chilly February dawn in Llerena, a small town in rural Extremadura. Muchas Coriones. No. Environmentalist Samuel Pla works with the Spanish organization CBD Habitat. He's taking us out into the countryside after a long period of drought. Blessedly rainy winter has turned the landscape here a lustrous green. Among the little enthema oak trees that dot the landscape, we can see a shepherd with a small flock. This is olive country. The olive harvest is just ending, and Samuel recites the different varieties of olives grown here. But this is also now, miraculously Link's country. And Samuel is taking us to the heart of that miracle. He started working on the Links Conservation project at the beginning of the 2000s. This is when the first reliable census of the links in Spain came out, revealing that There were only 94 Iberian links left in Spain and Portugal. So therefore, in the whole world.

[Paul Jepson (British ecologist)]

The.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

Populations were confined to two tiny pinpricks on the the Dona wetlands on the Portuguese border, and north of Seville, the Sierra Morena. So the Spanish government decided to act. Supported by the European Union's Life Environmental Program, it set up a series of centers for breeding in captivity. Fortunately, the two lynx populations were genetically distinct. So Lynx from Donyana were bred with lynx from the Sierra Morena and then released into the landscape. By 2006, the population had stabilized. Genetic diversity had improved. But one factor was key for the lynx's ongoing viability. The Iberian lynx is a specialist species, heavily relying on one food source rabbits. This land once teemed with rabbits. The name Spain may come from the Phoenician Semitic word meaning rabbit. So Iberian lynx and rabbits co evolved. Samuel explains that CBD Habitat's work on the Lynx project is only 15 to 20% taken up with the big cat itself. The rest of the work is all focused on the rabbits that the lynx eats. Unhappily for the Iberian lynx, already faced with habitat loss and other pressures, waves of myxomatosis tore through the rabbit populations here in the 20th century. A lynx needs at the very least two rabbits per hectare. High concentrations of rabbits per hectare can be found in Spain, but often only in, say, 1,000 hectares. This might sound like quite a lot of land, but if you consider that a reproducing female Lynx needs 600 hectares in her range, this is not going to be enough rabbit populated land to support a viable lynx population. So CBD Habitat has worked to transform large areas of the landscape and build back the rabbit population. Warrens were created, pools to drink from. Grassland was restored where there had been none before and removed from where there was too much. We created, Samuel says, a mosaic landscape for rabbits. And where the rabbit goes, Samuel is saying, the Iberian lynx goes too. Its presence drives rabbits on through the landscape. And the rabbit carrion that the lynx leaves benefits everything else. Spanish imperial eagles, for example, currently listed as vulnerable. Where the lynx thrives, so does the whole ecosystem. The place that Samuels brought us to is is breathtaking. Surrounded by poplars, a small lake glitters in the chilly winter sunshine. A few sheep are grazing. Behind them rise the Hornachuelos mountain range. The air rings with birdsong, woodpeckers and black bellied sand grouse. Here, in 2014, the Lynx Life Project moved up a gear. A decade ago, this was where the first Iberian lynx were released. Beyond the two original nuclei, here and in other places, the lynx population would grow to its current strength of over 2000 individuals grow, spread and thrive, that's the hope. And the landscape, Samuel explains, is perfect. Iberian lynx love shrub, neither too open nor too wooded. And stretching away before us is a carpet of gorse, small grassy clearings interspersed with holm oak. And when you look closer, you can see rabbits. Now, in February, the female lynx have been on heat for Many weeks. Samuel saw a female here a week ago already with a prominent belly. She'll give birth around the beginning of March. Listen for the magpies, he's. And they set up a chatter like they just did. There's lynx about. And sure enough, a few moments later, when we reach the observation post on the hillside above, a bird watcher reports that she had just seen a lynx, a female. She's saying, we watch for a couple of hours, scanning the scrub with binoculars. We're not so lucky. No lynx for us today. But we do see what in Spanish is called a criayo, although it turns out I've been mispronouncing it. Samuel has stood up here many times and seen lynx swim across the lake below. There are times, he's saying, when you see a very young lynx with a massive rabbit in its mouth and you say to yourself, my goodness, how can he do that? Such a beautiful animal. So beautiful. Yeah. I've been working with Lynxes for over 20 years and every time I see one, it still makes my heart race.

[Maria Jesus Palacios (Biologist overseeing Iberian Lynx Restoration project)]

Now on BBC Scotland with more from the day's top story.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

1500 miles to the north of the olive groves of Extremadura, a very different debate about lynx is taking place. A pair of wild lynx were captured on wildlife camera. Early in 2025, there was a wave of clandestine lynx releases in the Scottish county of Aberdeenshire. Police are investigating reports of another two lynx on the loose in the Highlands. Now lynx releases are illegal in Scotland and the rogue animals were quickly recaptured. Eurasian lynx, slightly bigger than Iberian lynx, were native to Scotland until their eradication centuries ago. Scottish rewilders and much of the public want them reintroduced. But many farmers and landowners are bitterly opposed to this. It's pretty clear which side the Scottish First Minister is on. The Scottish government does not support the reintroduction of the links, and it's an illegal act to release links in Scotland and Britain in general. Restoration of links is yet another front in a culture war about nature restoration.

[Paul Jepson (British ecologist)]

The farming community, they see the nature conservationists as being urban. The nature conservationists see them as the problem.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

I'm on a zoom call to the veteran British ecologist, Paul Jepson. For Jepson, many promoters of British rewilding have just gone in too hard against farmers and landowners. It's created, he says, a toxic legacy. Rewilding has become entangled with the polarized debate around Britain's exit from the European Union in 2016.

[Paul Jepson (British ecologist)]

And I think Brexit was just a symptom of national discontent and Then rewilding comes in just in a horribly controversial way. It didn't seep up through considered discourse.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

So an already polarized atmosphere was then inflamed by the botched attempts at lynx bombing in January.

[Paul Jepson (British ecologist)]

You know, someone throwing four lynx out of a coral.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

And as Paul explains, although public support for lynx reintroduction in Britain is rising, Britain is culturally just not as used to wildness as other parts of Europe.

[Paul Jepson (British ecologist)]

That's the big difference between continental Europe and the uk. Rewilding just came in as a controversial thing. You know, it exposes quite a lot about British risk averseness and the lack of political vision and lack of comfort of living with wild animals. It's so long culturally, since we've only had any wild animals around which could do any harm to anything. I think much longer than in Spain or places.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

I've lived in Spain for many years and recognised the sense of what Paul's saying. Rewilding is not a very well known term in Spain, but it doesn't seem to play much of a role in culture wars here either. Heading back into the town of Llerena, we pass agricultural stores and tractor workshops. The old town is studded with magnificent churches from Spain's 17th century Golden Age. In the central square, dazzlingly whitewashed, the cafes are full for lunchtime. It seems happy enough, but under the surface of rural Spanish towns like these, there's often a layer of malaise. While agriculture is being rocked by climate change, mass immigration is transforming rural as well as urban communities. And mainstream politics is under attack. In the square, I meet Tomas Angulo, a former bull fighter who now works for the rural police. Then it's back out through the countryside again, this time in a patrol jeep through plains of cereals broken up with olive groves. No links this time. Tomas is taking me to a crime scene. Yesterday, he explains, a gang of immigrants stole a truckload of olives from a nearby farmer. Tomas warmly greets the farmers, Luisa and Alberto. They point out tire tracks in the grass and Tomas takes photos. The long drought ended last fall, Luis is saying, and a rainy winter has led to a bonanza olive harvest. But this valuable crop only makes them vulnerable to the crime gangs. Tomas, our police guide, has no doubt who's ultimately to blame. Politicians in Madrid and Brussels. They know nothing about rural life, he's saying. They screw over hard working farmers with rules and red tape. It's hard enough with the drought they've had. Its outburst contains all the elements of European rural drought and the ravages of climate change. Immigrants who many suppose don't respect law and custom. While distant urban elites such as the European Union sneer at struggling farmers. A European style trumpism may well be finding a foothold in places like these. If so, it could gravely impact the fate of rewilding across Europe. The huge strides in securing cores, corridors and carnivores in Europe in the last 20 to 30 years were partly made possible by that political elite. Conservationists criticise the European Union's agricultural policies for contributing to the huge decline in bugs, birds and wildflowers, intensifying the biodiversity crisis. But it's also true that the European Union has poured money into the dramatic restoration of wolves, bears and lynx. The European Union funded 60% of the Iberian lynx program, so the turbulent politics engulfing Europe now could impact heavily on nature restoration. And yet my experiences in the southern Spanish countryside, the north is a different matter do reflect the broad social support on which the links project was so successfully built. Some Spanish farmers and mayors, even in the south, are hostile to lynx, but nowhere near the same level of hostility as that shown to carnivores in Britain. I don't think the olive farmer Alberto's views are all that unusual. Farming and ecology just have to learn to live together, he says. He's telling me how one day he was working here and a friend said, look, a lynx. He describes how it passed slowly in front of them between the trees. I always stay for a while in the olive grove here, taking a walk, contemplating, and you start to see the animals, you listen to them and it's really nice. I really like that. I like that there are wild animals out there. It's normal. Hello, Norman. Hello, Norman. And what does Tomas, the passionate defender of farmers, think? Although the Iberian lynx is smaller than the Eurasian lynx, the Iberian lynx is a nuisance to farmers. Thomas confirms this. Lynx do sometimes kill lambs. But lynx have crossed and people have been well informed about the value of the links in the landscape, despite the occasional damage that they do. Tomas describes a recent sighting. The lynx passed by calmly. It was like the king of the jungle. It walked by matter of factly, as if it was just saying hello to us. It's a lovely animal. It's such a shame that it disappears, disappeared for so long. But now it's back and recovered, and that's great news. And great news for the ecosystem too. Paul Jepson often talks about rewilding in terms of what he calls cultural framing. To many British people, carnivores such as lynx are seen as a threat to the farmer. Therefore a threat to tradition and British rural culture. The cultural framing is different in southern Spain, at least when it comes to the links, and at least for the moment. This is a procession I stumbled on, where children and families are all processing behind the statue of a saint. Southern Spain is rich in rural traditions like this. But the links doesn't stand in opposition to this tradition because it's seen as a distinctly southern Spanish animal. It's a part of that tradition. It's been featured on Spanish postal stamps. It crops up in Spanish art and literature. One of the most famous works of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya is an etching entitled the Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. It depicts a slumped, unconscious man. The monsters of the title rise from the back of the man's head as he sleeps. The etching expresses Goya's hope that Spain will reject these monsters of superstition and embrace the values of the Enlightenment. Instead, watching over this sleeping man is the embodiment of those values. An Iberian lynx, with its fiercely intelligent face, wide awake expression, it represents a reason, it represents the hope of a better Spain. But the association with the lynx as a national animal is only one factor in the revival of its fortunes. Time and again, in my chats with Spanish rewilders, the name of one man crops up. They simply refer to him as as Felix. Born in 1928, Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente was a cross between Aldo Leopold and David Attenborough. His nature documentary series man and the Earth, with its funky Mission Impossible style theme tune, enjoyed huge audiences in the 1970s. Maria Jesus Palacios.

[Maria Jesus Palacios (Biologist overseeing Iberian Lynx Restoration project)]

Us kids would be playing on the street and adults would call down, it's Felix on tv. And we'd all scramble inside to watch man and the Earth. And the man's voice was magnetic, a voice that passed through you.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

In the early 70s, Spain was still under military dictatorship. Its record on animal rights was as poor as its record on human rights. Yet when Felix died with his film crew in an air crash in Alaska in 1980, he'd become one of the most famous people in Spain. His funeral spirit sparked nationwide grief. As a young man, Felix had hunted wolves. Later he realized, much like Aldo Leopold did, that the wolf was not an enemy, but part of the great system of life. His raw emotion infusing his documentary on the wolf is credited with changing Spanish people's attitudes to that old foe. And his concern for the dwindling numbers of another carnivore paved the way, 20 years after his death, for the great campaign to save the Iberian lynx.

[Maria Jesus Palacios (Biologist overseeing Iberian Lynx Restoration project)]

Those of Us, who were children then, are the adults of now. Those of us making the decisions about nature conservation were educated in the values that Felix gave us. He taught us the importance of the Iberian leagues and later we acted on it. It's one of his greatest legacies.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

National ENERGY EMERGENCY we will drill baby Dr. But nothing stays the same. Across many countries in the world now, a cynical new politics is retreating from nature and climate goals. The two previous episodes on wolves and bears focused on the grim culture wars being fought over the return of these animals to European landscapes. This final episode on the Iberian links in Spain was meant to be the uplifting ending. It turns out to be a bit more complicated than that. The same political dynamics that are putting bears and wolves at risk could also affect the Iberian links. The political changes sweeping Europe could reverse the advances made in Spanish rewilding. It's a few months after visiting Lynx country in the south of Spain, and now I'm in the far north, in Catalonia. It's mid May. House martins and swifts are screaming around the church towers. I'm in a town called TREMP, about 60 miles south of the Pyrenees. The man I'm meeting is Jordi Palau, a director of Rewilding Spain, part of the Rewilding Europe family. The rewilding project Jord is showing me today consists of several hundred hectares along the banks of the Nogueira Payaz River. On arrival, there's this surge in birdsong. You can hear newly arrived nightingales. The poplars and willows are gaining ground. Heavy spring rain has created pools among the trees, perfect conditions for a frog chorus.

[Jordi Palau (Director of Rewilding Spain)]

I think we can hear, yes, golden oriole. And this is Bonelli's warbler.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

Will the lynx ever come into Catalonia?

[Jordi Palau (Director of Rewilding Spain)]

Yes, I think that they will come on their own, on their own, but they need time. If we don't reintroduce them actively, this will be a slow process.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

The site seethes with possibilities. But in the few months since I went looking for links with Samuel down in the south, the mood among rewilders has become grimmer. The pressure on European Union states to lower hard won nature protection has only gathered pace. A few years ago, Jolly says, there was a consensus in Europe that nature restoration was good.

[Jordi Palau (Director of Rewilding Spain)]

And now they are starting to say, well, maybe this is not good or not necessary. I think that a clear example of this is the primary sector, agriculture and all this, that they have very, very important problems. I think that nature is not one of them. All this is generating a new scenario in which nature conservation is starting to be Seen as something that maybe is not as clearly good for everybody as all we usually thought.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

And there are connections being made with elites as well, aren't there?

[Jordi Palau (Director of Rewilding Spain)]

Yes, because many people say all these ecological recovery, et cetera, goals come from the European Union.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

Jordi points out that the rise of the radical right is only one factor in Europe's retreat from nature goals. But a major shift is clearly underway, and signs of hostility in Spain to the Iberian links is a new and worrying trend.

[Jordi Palau (Director of Rewilding Spain)]

Yes, as the species is growing in numbers and expanding in geographical range and becoming less and less endangered, I think that the risk of a different perception will increase. This is starting to happen because, for example, there has been two new attempts to establish new places of reintroduction of Iberian links in the last year. More or less. Not in the typical central southern Spain, but in northern Spain. And of those four proposals, three have failed because of social pressure. With a species as the Iberian lynx, that is so easy. So this is changing.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

In May 2024, at a site in southeastern Spain, archaeologists recovered the oldest and most complete skeleton of an Iberian lynx ever found. It's over a million years old. So long before the domestication of animals and crops, long before the last Neanderthals died out in the caves of Gibraltar, and long before Homo sapiens arrived in Europe, the Iberian lynx, looking pretty much like it looks now, was here in this land. It's a horrifying thought that this long chain of life was almost ruptured at the turn of the 21st century. And despite the advances made in the last 25 years, the Iberian lynx could yet succumb. It will need to grow its numbers and expand its ranges significantly if it's to survive. And yet the Iberian links never fails to surprise. We heard earlier that links would eventually come to the far north of Spain, but it would take a while. Well, it turns out they're here already.

[Pau Vasquez (Wolf and bear expert, ADLO NGO)]

Evidence of the lynx, and way farther.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

North than anyone had expected. This is the voice of Pau Vasquez, an expert on wolves in the Pyrenean mountains in the far north of Spain. Pau works for adlo, a conservation association on the Spain side of the Pyrenean chain.

[Pau Vasquez (Wolf and bear expert, ADLO NGO)]

ADLO is an NGO dedicated to protection of the wolf and the brown bear.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

Like many nature organizations, ADLO collects its data on wildlife from camera traps left in remote sites.

[Pau Vasquez (Wolf and bear expert, ADLO NGO)]

The camera was 7 km from the French border. I managed the cameras in this area. We were following the trail of wolfd. I had very little hope for that particular camera because the association has a very limited budget. It was an absolute surprise to detect an ivory link on our cover. Honestly, I couldn't believe. Was enormous surprise, especially because the lynx showed up again on a second camera. Incredible.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

The picture of Pau's links was shared with experts and they recognized him. Born in southern Portugal in 2021, he'd been given a name by scientists, Secreto con El. Setting out from Seville in Southern Spain in 2022, Secreto had negotiated his way past highways, railways, rivers and urban areas, arriving here three years later, 650 miles to the north. Now, as we've heard, attitudes in northern Spain are more hostile to links than in the south. Farmers in the north are still poisoning rabbits. Many northern Spanish farmers are opposed to links reintroduction. Pau wonders if Secreto, realizing that the agricultural plane was too dangerous, decided to.

[Pau Vasquez (Wolf and bear expert, ADLO NGO)]

Push Even farther north, 500 meters above eastern, usual comfort zone.

[Narrator / Host (possibly Jack Humphrey or Julius Purcell)]

There's a problem, though, because rabbits are scarce in these mountains and the nights are much colder than in southern Spain. Yet Pao believes Secreto might well be adapting. Maybe instead of rabbits, he's eating mountain hares, of which there are plenty. Rising globally, temperatures might take enough of the edge off the cold for Iberian lynx to live and thrive in these alpine valleys. For Pao, it's an exciting opportunity to witness an animal once on the edge of extinction, perhaps about to adapt to a new habitat and new climate. Nothing, though, can compete with the initial excitement of seeing the blurred but unmistakable form of an Iberian lynx exploring mountains hundreds of miles from where he had been born.

[Pau Vasquez (Wolf and bear expert, ADLO NGO)]

I never imagined the big three, the same camera, the lynx, the wolf and the bird. It was absolutely incredible. The joy after so many disappointments was immense.

[Jack Humphrey (Host of Rewilding Earth podcast)]

We hope you enjoyed this special series on Europe's wolf, bear and lynx, and we'd love to hear what you think. Please comment on your favorite [e-mail] pod on episodes 158, 159 or 160. And while you're there, please consider supporting the Rewilding Earth podcast.

[Paul Jepson (British ecologist)]

We.

[Jack Humphrey (Host of Rewilding Earth podcast)]

We do what we do because of awesome listeners like you. And after that, don't forget to share today's episode with friends. Thanks for listening.