In 2002, a wildlife biologist in Andalusia counted 94 Iberian lynx left in the wild. The species, once widespread across the Iberian Peninsula, had been reduced to two isolated populations in southern Spain, one in Doñana National Park and one in the Sierra Morena mountains. Doñana had been under legal protection since 1969, but the lynx population there was still declining.

The reserve was protected from hunting and development, yet the lynx continued to disappear. Researchers eventually identified the cause: a lack of food. The Iberian lynx depends on European rabbits for most of its diet, and rabbit populations in the region had collapsed decades earlier.

Two diseases caused the rabbit decline. Myxomatosis arrived in the 1950s and reduced rabbit numbers by up to 90 percent in some areas. Rabbit hemorrhagic disease followed in 1988, erasing much of the slow recovery. The lynx population declined in turn, but the landscape itself did not look degraded. The absence of rabbits was not obvious to observers who had never seen the region at its former density.

Conservation efforts initially focused on protecting the lynx directly, with more monitoring, fencing, and genetic tracking. These measures did not address the underlying problem. A female lynx raising cubs requires a territory dense with rabbits, and without sufficient prey, females skipped breeding seasons or raised fewer kittens.

A captive breeding program was launched in the early 2000s, with centers in Spain and Portugal. The first releases failed. Animals were placed into sites where rabbit numbers were still too low to support them. Some were killed by cars, and others never established territories.

The breakthrough came through collaboration with private landowners. Most suitable habitat outside the reserves was privately held, often managed as hunting estates. Conservation teams proposed building artificial warrens to support rabbit populations, which also benefited game management. Landowners who were initially skeptical became more receptive as rabbit numbers visibly increased on their land.

Once rabbit densities crossed a sustainable threshold, released lynx began staying in the release zones, establishing territories, and raising cubs that survived at higher rates.

A second issue emerged in the isolated populations. The Doñana lynx group showed signs of inbreeding, including smaller litter sizes and lower juvenile survival. Biologists addressed this by physically moving animals between the two populations, a process known as genetic rescue. Litter sizes and juvenile survival measurably improved.

By 2012, the total population had grown to 309 animals. Then a new variant of rabbit hemorrhagic disease, RHDV2, appeared and caused rabbit numbers to crash in some recovery zones. The impact varied across regions, and the distributed structure of the program meant the overall trajectory held. Vaccines for rabbits were developed, and habitat work continued.

Population numbers rose steadily: 591 by 2015, when the IUCN downlisted the species from critically endangered to vulnerable; more than 1,100 by 2019; and 2,401 wild lynx across Spain and Portugal by 2024. Lynx were recorded in regions where they had not been seen in decades, and some former critics became supporters as lynx sightings drew ecotourism.

The infrastructure built for the recovery also benefited other species. Underpasses and crossing structures created to help lynx move between habitat fragments were later documented as being used by Spanish imperial eagles, red deer, and Iberian wolves.

The recovery required sustained funding from the EU LIFE program, coordination between Spain and Portugal, genetic management, veterinary capacity, landowner partnerships, and more than two decades of institutional commitment. It worked because the prey species could recover, the habitat remained present, and the program had enough time and distributed infrastructure to withstand two separate crises.

The central lesson of the program was not that the lynx needed more protection. It was that the lynx needed what it ate. Conservation teams rebuilt the rabbit populations, and the lynx did the rest.