Only 150 Iberian lynxes remain in the world.

July 8, 2003 — Wildlife advocates recently began urging individuals to purchase wine and champagne bottled with real cork rather than synthetic stoppers in order to help prevent the Iberian lynx from becoming extinct.

The lynx is indigenous only to forests in Spain and Portugal from which cork is obtained, so use of synthetic stoppers, which has been increasing in recent years, provides disincentive for the animal's natural habitat to be preserved.

"Clever propaganda by the manufacturers of screw tops and plastic corks has led many people to think that cork stoppers are bad for the environment when exactly the opposite is true," WWF-UK Forests Policy Officer Beatrix Richards told a BBC reporter.

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In 2002, the Iberian lynx became the first wild cat to be placed on the Red List of Threatened Species maintained by The World Conservation Union.

According to the WWF-UK, there are only about 150 members of the species — and fewer than 30 females capable of reproduction — currently alive.

"Something radical must happen to save the animal, or it will be gone within a decade," said Eduardo Goncalves, who recently wrote a book about the Iberian lynx entitled The Arlgarve Tiger.

"If the lynx does become extinct, it will be the first cat to die out since the sabretooth tiger disappeared 10,000 years ago," said former World Conservation Union Cat Specialist Group Chairman Peter Jackson.

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