Feline leukemia virus and other pathogens as important threats to the survival of the critically endangered Iberian lynx

This study documented a feline leukemia virus (FeLV) outbreak in the critically endangered Iberian lynx population of Donana, Spain. Through field surveillance, molecular diagnostics and pathology, the authors found an unusually virulent FeLV infection causing rapid mortality in several lynx, a serious blow to a population numbering only a few hundred. Phylogenetic analysis linked the lynx virus to FeLV circulating in domestic cats, implicating spillover from the surrounding feral cat population. The findings triggered emergency management, including testing, removal of infected animals and a vaccination and biosecurity response. The paper is a defining example of how a single domestic-cat pathogen can threaten the survival of an entire endangered felid, and it shaped disease-risk protocols in Iberian lynx recovery programs.