Briefly 551 EUROPE
Good news for felids: kitten births in the wild signal hope for wildcats.. . Following the release of 19 wildcats last summer by the Saving Wildcats partner- ship, at least two females have given birth in the wild. This marks a significant mile- stone in the project’s efforts to restore the wildcat to Scotland, after the species was on the verge of extinction in 2018.With the support of landowners, gamekeepers and the local community, the field team managed to monitor and film the kittens in the wild, taking care not to disturb the animals. The births demonstrate that breed- ing wildcats for release into the wild is pos- sible, as the animals have learnt to hunt and survive, and now reproduce in their first breeding season, a clear indication that they are doing well.When the kittens are old en- oughthe teamwill attempt to get aDNApro- file fromthem, to check whether they are the offspring ofmale wildcats that were released in 2023, as there is a risk of interbreeding between wildcats and domestic cats. Source: Saving Wildcats (2024)
savingwildcats.org.uk/kittensborninwild
.. . and Iberian lynx rebounding thanks to conservation action The IUCNRed List status of the Iberian lynx has improved from Endangered to Vulner- able, continuing its dramatic recovery from near extinctionthanks to sustainedconserva-
tionefforts.The population has increasedex- ponentially from 62 mature individuals in 2001 to 648 in 2022, and the total population, including young and mature individuals, is now estimated to be . 2,000. Conservation efforts for this keystone species have focused onincreasingthe abundance of itsmainprey, the Endangered European rabbit, protecting and restoring Mediterranean scrub and for- est habitat, and reducing deaths caused by human activity. Expanding the species’ gen- etic diversity through translocations and an ex situ breeding programme has also been key to increasing numbers. Since 2010, .400 Iberianlynxeshave been reintroduced to parts of Portugal and Spain. The species now occupies at least 3,320 km2, an increase from 449 km2 in
2005.In its first Green Sta- tus of Species assessment—the global stand- ard for measuring species recovery and assessing conservation impact—the Iberian lynx is Largely Depleted. However, its high Conservation Legacy reflects the impact of conservation efforts to date. Source: IUCN (2024)
iucn.org/press- release/202406/iberian-lynx-rebounding- thanks-conservation-action-iucn-red-list
Sweden leads the way with landmark ban on bottom trawling Sweden and Greece have become the first countries in the EU to ban bottom trawling. In April, Greece announced that it would ban bottom trawls in its marine protected areas, which came after the UK committed to banning bottom trawling in 13 of its mar- ine protected areas. Sweden, however, has taken it a step further by banning this fish- ing method in all of its territorial waters. Bottom trawling—in which a vast net is dragged across the ocean floor behind a trawler—is a harmful method that perman- ently damages ecosystems, releases carbon into the ocean, and contributes significantly to overfishing. As well as damaging the ocean floor, the method is indiscriminate: bottom trawls catch almost everything in the way of the nets, including non-target species, such as juvenile fish, dolphins and threatened whales. This bycatch usually ends up dead, and the unwanted animals are discarded as waste. The move by Sweden is an encouraging one to NGOs working in the region, as the country is one of Europe’s major fishing powers. Source: Strong Coast (2024) strongcoast. org/sweden-announces-landmark-ban-on- bottom-trawling
Mass stranding of pilot whales in Orkney A pod of 77 long-finned pilot whales died after washing ashore on a beach in Orkney, UK, in what is thought to be the biggest mass stranding event in Scotland since 1995. Twelve of the whales stranded at Tresness Beach on the island of Sanday were still alive when they were found, however, the British DiversMarine Life Rescue took the decision to euthanize them after efforts to refloat themfailed. There is no obvious explanation for why thewhales stranded, but the Scottish MarineAnimalStrandingScheme conducted post-mortems on about 30 of the animals. Long-finned pilot whales are usually found along the continental shelf edge north and west of the British Isles but are frequent visitors to Shetland andOrkney. In 2023,the UK saw a mass stranding of 55 long-finned pilotwhales on the Isle of Lewis.Upon inves- tigation, it was found that one of the animals had experienced complications while giving birth, leading to the whole pod stranding, highlighting the strong social bonds formed within the pods: if one individual strands, the rest often follow. Source: Sea Watch Foundation (2024)
seawatchfoundation.org.uk/latest-news-2/ pod-of-77-long-finned-pilot-whales-die- in-mass-stranding-on-the-isle-of-sanday- orkney
Captive-bred Egyptian vultures breed successfully in Bulgaria The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) and BirdLife Bulgaria have re- corded the first successful wild breeding of captive-bred Egyptian vultures Neophron percnopterus in Bulgaria, marking a critical step in the recovery of the species in the Balkans. The breeding pair exemplify the success of the restocking programme. The female, born at the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Breeding Centre in 2019, was released in 2020, and a wild male tagged with a GPS transmitter was paired with her in 2022. This year, the pair successfully hatched two chicks. The species has a rich cultural history, revered in ancient Egypt and celebrated in the local legends of the Eastern Rhodopes. However, it faces severe threats, including habitat loss, poisoning and illegal killing, and collisions with en- ergy infrastructure. Once widespread, the population has dwindled to less than 60 pairs in the Balkans. To combat this decline, in 2018, the BSPB launched a reinforcement programme that raises vultures in captivity and releases them into the wild. Source: Endangered Landscapes and Seascapes Programme (2024)
endangeredlandscapes.org/news/captive- bred-egyptian-vultures-breed-successfully- in-bulgaria-for-the-first-time
Cornwall badger vaccination shows promise Farmer-led badger vaccination work could play a vital role in plans to eradicate bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the UK, say research- ers. A 4-year pilot vaccination programme showed the percentage of badgers testing positive for bTB in the study area dropped from 16%to 0%, according to a report by the Zoological Society of London, Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Imperial College London. The team behind the study, inclu- ding farmers, scientists and conservationists, is calling on the UK government to sup- port further evaluations of community-led badger vaccination. They vaccinated badgers across 12 farms, and more badgers were vaccinated per square-kilometre than were caught by nearby culls, with separate counts from camera traps suggesting that 74%of local badgers received the vaccine. Blood sampling showed that the proportion of badgers with bTB fell, even though overall badger numbers remained high. Interviews with the participating landowners indicated they were keen to continue vaccination beyond the original 4 years. Sources: Nature (2024)
doi.org/nb2r & BBC News (2024)
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ c80ee5xkrpno
Oryx, 2024, 58(5), 549–554 © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605324001698
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