The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emerging zoonotic virus of public and
animal health concern, of which felids have been suggested as potential reservoirs. Although SARS-CoV-2
exposure has been detected in domestic and wild captive animals belonging to Felidae family, surveillance has
not been carried out in free-ranging wild felids so far. The aim of the present study was to assess SARS-CoV-2
exposure in the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), the most endangered felid in the world. Between 2019 and
2022, we conducted a seroepidemiological study of SARS-CoV-2 in 276 free-ranging and captive Iberian lynxes.
Our results evidenced limited (0.4%; 95%CI: 0.0–1.1) but not negligible exposure to this emerging virus in this
endangered felid species, increasing the SARS-CoV-2 host range. The circulation of this virus in wildlife evidences the need of integrated European wildlife monitoring.This study is part of the TED2021-132599B-C22 project, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union "NextGenerationEU"/PRTR. Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan - Funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU. It was also partially funded by the research project LifeWATCH INDALO - Scientific Infrastructures for Global Change Monitoring and Adaptation in Andalusia (LIFEWATCH-2019-04-AMA-01), financed with FEDER funds (POPE 2014-2020). This research was also partially supported by the Galileo Innovation and Transfer Plan of the University of Cordoba (UCO-SOCIAL-INNOVA) and CIBER -Consorcio Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red- (CB 2021/13/00083), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion and Union Europea – NextGenerationEU. The authors also acknowledge the crowdfunding initiative #Yomecorono, available online at: https://www.yomecorono.com (accessed on 8 August 2021). IRTA is supported by CERCA Programme/ Generalitat de Catalunya. M. Gonzalvez was supported by a postdoctoral contract Margarita Salas (University of Murcia) from the Program of Requalification of the Spanish University System (Spanish Ministry of Universities) financed by the European Union-NextGenerationEU. J. Caballero-Gomez was supported by the CIBER -Consorcio Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red-(CB21/13/00083), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion and Union EuropeaNextGenerationEU. We are grateful to Raúl García-San Pedro, (OAPN, Centro de Cría en cautividad de lince iberico de Zarza de Granadilla), Mª Teresa Ríos-Moya, (TRAGSATEC, Centro de cría en cautividad de lince iberico de Zarza de Granadilla) and Arnau Vedrell-Mir, (TRAGSATEC, Centro de Cría en cautividad de lince iberico de Zarza de Granadilla) for their support during this study. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Cordoba/ CBUA.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
