Spain's PACMA urges new wildlife‑protection rules for infrastructure

The Animalist Party with the Environment (PACMA) has asked the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge to draft a national regulation that would require protective measures and escape routes for wildlife on irrigation canals, roads, power lines, fences and other structures. The request follows the death of an Iberian lynx female, Urze, and her two cubs in an irrigation basin near Hellín, Albacete, where smooth walls and a steep slope trapped the animals. PACMA argues that simple, low‑cost solutions such as ramps or mesh exits could have prevented the incident.

The party cites the SAFE (Stop Atropellos de Fauna en España) project, which estimates that up to 55 million vertebrates may die each year on Spanish roads, many of them threatened species. The proposal calls for mandatory protection measures on both public and private infrastructure, retrofitting of existing installations, and inclusion of these safeguards in the design phase of new projects.