A lynx that was “deliberately abandoned” in the Highlands has died after being safely captured last night.
The wild cat sadly passed away overnight, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland has confirmed. It was one of four lynx to have been illegally released near Kingussie in recent days.
The animals – that no longer exist in the wild – were spotted by two members of the public on Wednesday, January 8. On Friday night, it was confirmed that the animals were humanely captured in pairs in the Dell of Killiehuntly area, near the Cairngorms.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland said it was “reasonably confident” there were no other lynx on the loose. Inquiries into how the animals came to be there are ongoing.
Following their capture, the wild cats were taken to the Highland Wildlife Park before being moved to Edinburgh Zoo, where the surviving lynx will be quarantined for 30 days. A conservation expert previously slammed the “highly irresponsible” move of individuals to release the animals into the wild.
The cause of death is currently unknown. A post-mortem will be carried out.
A statement from Highland Wildlife Park reads: “After extensive efforts to capture these animals safely and humanely, we were very sad to discover one of them has died overnight. We do not yet know the circumstances behind its death but will be carrying out a post-mortem to try to establish what happened.
“Whatever the case, this unfortunate development 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.
“The surviving member of the recent pair will head down to @EdinburghZoo to quarantine alongside the two lynx who were captured on Thursday.”
Dr Neil Anderson, a senior lecturer in conservation medicine at Edinburgh University, who also actively works in wildlife conservation, said the perpetrators could potentially jeopardise the chances of successfully reintroducing the species to Scotland in the future.
Dr Anderson said: “I think it’s highly irresponsible to be releasing lynx at the moment in the manner in which they have been released. It could potentially jeopardise a proper regulated and controlled reintroduction in the future because if anything was to happen, it just makes it harder for conservationists in the future to be able to introduce lynx.
“There is a lot of regulation involved in trying to do a formal reintroduction. It’s a huge process to go through and it’s very tightly regulated for good reason because there could be adverse effects. You could reintroduce diseases and things like that. So there has been quite a lot of concern about potential negative impacts from these kinds of actions.”
Dr Helen Senn, RZSS Head of Conservation said: “After extensive efforts to capture these animals safely and humanely, we were very sad to discover that one of them has died overnight. We do not yet know the circumstances behind its death but will be carrying out a postmortem to try to establish what happened.
“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. Our team of expert keepers and veterinarians will now ensure that they get the best possible care moving forward.
“The surviving member of the pair will now be heading down to Edinburgh to quarantine alongside the two lynx who were captured on Thursday. I’d like to say a massive thank you to the local community who have been amazing throughout this entire episode, rallying around at short notice and supporting the team through some extremely challenging conditions.”
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