Politicians from the Livre party have demanded clarification from the Government over the removal of the team of 14 veterinary professionals who have run the National Iberian Lynx Breeding Centre in Silves for the past 16 years, calling for a “transparent” process.
The party submitted formal questions to the Minister for Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, on Tuesday, 12th May, seeking explanations regarding the planned replacement of the existing management team at the National Iberian Lynx Breeding Centre (CNRLI).
In her response to the politicians’ statement, issued Wednesday, 13th May, the Environment Minister told the current team that the decision by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) to assume direct management of the National Iberian Lynx Breeding Centre (CNRLI) is an “internal management matter”.
“It was not my intervention. The ICNF has autonomy and, in a democratic system, I greatly respect the autonomy of institutions. The institute took that decision and informed me it intended to do so, therefore it is an internal management issue,” Maria da Graça Carvalho told journalists on the sidelines of an event in Costa da Caparica, in the municipality of Almada.
The minister added that she understood the ICNF’s intention to manage the project directly, stressing that the institute “has the capacity to do so”, rather than continuing with an outsourced management model.
Whilst the minister emphasised the importance of the project and indicated that a transition period would take place, Rodrigo Serra, head of the CNRLI team, told journalists that no transition process had begun despite the change being scheduled for just over two weeks’ time. He told journalists he feared for the future of the lynx population and described this treatment of workers, following more than a decade of dedication, as inhumane.
According to Serra, a proper transition should last at least one year, noting that the Iberian lynx management cycle runs over 12 months and that “training a team cannot be done in three weeks”.
He warned that both the animals and the professionals involved could face serious risks under the current timetable. “Information will be lost,” he said, adding that Spanish partners involved in the cross-border conservation programme are also “concerned” about the situation.
The team further warned that the transition affects 14 highly specialised professionals, including veterinarians, animal handlers, and technicians, who have accumulated unique expertise in the species’ behaviour, reproduction, management, and recovery, and noted that no solution has yet been presented for those workers.
According to Livre politicians, the process “must be clarified and transparent”, arguing that Iberian lynx conservation cannot be regarded as an internal administrative matter for the ICNF but rather as a strategic environmental policy involving European public funding and shared responsibility between Portuguese society and the international community.
The party asked the minister how the Government intends to ensure that the management change does not jeopardise the success of the lynx reintroduction programme, whether a formal transition plan exists, and what will happen to employees currently working for the company responsible for operating the centre since 2009. No answer has yet been provided.
In a statement, the CNRLI’s technical team expressed “deep concern” about both the timetable and the manner of the transition, stressing that any handover must be technically, legally, and operationally secure, and properly coordinated with Iberian partners involved in the conservation programme over the past 16 years — a period marked by demonstrable success.
Rodrigo Serra confirmed that staff have received little concrete information about the changes. He said workers employed by the operating company had been informally offered fixed-term contracts under the new management, a form of precarious employment he considers unlawful.
Serra added that the team had previously been informally notified that the ICNF was considering a new management model aimed at “internalising the success of the Iberian lynx”.
Whilst acknowledging that the institute has the authority to alter management arrangements, he argued that the core issue lies in the absence of a structured transition process.
“We remain available to continue ensuring this highly specialised work and will stay here until the ICNF tells us we must leave,” he said, stressing that the transfer of knowledge is critical. “We do not oppose a change in management, but the absence of a secure transition represents an additional risk.”
He warned that both the animals and the professionals involved could face serious risks, adding that vital information may be lost. Spanish partners involved in the programme, he said, are also concerned about the situation.
The CNRLI team has emphasised that the centre operates continuously, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, requiring highly specialised staff and working models adapted to the operational unpredictability associated with managing a critically sensitive species. This, they argue, makes a transition in less than three weeks entirely unviable.
The team also expressed surprise at certain remarks reported in the press, saying they “do not reflect the history of institutional coordination, continuous oversight and joint work” that has characterised the centre’s operation. Monthly activity reports and annual operational reports, they noted, have regularly been submitted to the ICNF.
The management model used over the past 16 years has, moreover, mirrored those adopted at other breeding centres within the Iberian conservation programme across the border in Spain.
The team pointed to the programme’s results: when the CNRLI opened, fewer than 150 Iberian lynxes remained worldwide. Since then, more than 180 animals have been born in Silves alone, with over a hundred prepared for reintroduction into the wild. Once classified as Critically Endangered, the species’ conservation status improved to Endangered in 2015 and, more recently, to Vulnerable, widely regarded as one of Europe’s most significant wildlife recovery stories.
The current team reiterated its willingness to collaborate on “a lawful, responsible, and technically secure solution”, whilst warning that the present stage of Iberian lynx recovery demands maximum institutional responsibility at what it described as a particularly decisive moment for the species’ future on the Iberian Peninsula.
Source: LUSA / Barlavento
Photo Credit: Sophie Sadler
