Spanish Government Cancels Toledo - Cordoba Highway To Protect Iberian Lynx - Reuters

[hatrack]

I'll be damned - a highway project CANCELED.

MADRID - Spain has ditched plans to build a 300-km motorway across the country's sun-baked plains because it would have threatened the Iberian lynx, one of the world's most endangered animals.

The road linking the ancient capital of Toledo with the southern city of Cordoba would have cut straight through several protected areas, including the nocturnal cat's last viable refuge in the Sierra Morena mountains.

Environmentalists estimate only 250 to 350 Iberian lynxes remain in the world, all of them in Spain.

Other threatened species such as the imperial eagle, Iberian wolf and black stork would also have suffered if the motorway had gone ahead, Spain's environment ministry said. The new road would have trapped lynxes between two main highways, ecologists said, killing any chance of the animals spreading to new areas and recovering numbers.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/42292/story.htm

[Suich]

1. Good news, for a change!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:, Espana!

[BrklynLiberal]

2. That is very impressive. Hope this attitude spreads around the world.

[emilyg]

3. Someone cares. That's very good.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Nice kitty (pic)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6683505.stm