One of four lynx captured in Scottish Highlands dies
One of the four lynx captured in the Scottish Highlands this week has died. The animal, which had been illegally released, was caught on Friday near Kingussie in the Cairngorms national park.
The Eurasian lynx was one of four that had been discovered running wild in the Dell of Killiehuntly area. Two were captured on Thursday and are being kept in quarantine at Edinburgh zoo. The other pair were trapped the next day and the survivor will join the first two in captivity.
Dr Helen Senn, the head of conservation at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), said the circumstances behind the death of the lynx were not yet known. “However, we will be carrying out a postmortem to try to establish what happened,” she added.
“Whatever the case, this unfortunate development just serves to further demonstrate the folly of abandoning these amazing animals in the wild, with no preparation or real concern for their welfare. We can only imagine the stress that all four of the recovered lynx must have experienced after being thrust into an entirely new and extremely harsh environment to fend for themselves.”
Adult lynx are roughly the size of a labrador and are shy and solitary creatures that very rarely attack humans. The captured animals are also tame and are used to humans, the RZSS said. In the wild, lynx are exceptional hunters with highly sensitive hearing and vision. They feed predominantly on roe deer but will also eat red deer, birds, rabbits, hares, rodents and foxes.
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