It appears a lynx has escaped from Borth. This was posted on their Facebook tonight. Hope they find her soon! “Animal Escape Notification Do not be alarmed, but please be alert as one of our young Eurasian Lynx has escaped. People of Borth and the surrounding countryside please be on the lookout for a large cat with a stubby tail. She is a young juvenile, tan and white in colour with dark spots on her back and legs. She is about twice the size of a domestic cat with black tufts on her ears. Her most distinctive feature is her thick, stubby tail which is no more than six inches long, is tan at the base and black at the tip. If you spot her, please do not approach her. Phone the police or contact the zoo straight away. We have fully-trained keepers on hand to deal with the situation. The zoo phone number is 01970 871224. There have never been any recorded attacks of a Lynx on a human, but they are a wild animal with sharp teeth and claws and will attack if cornered or trapped. Lynx are solitary animals that hide most of the day and tend to hunt at night. They will generally keep clear of human habitation and prefer a wooded environment. She is not used to hunting live prey but will chase rabbits and rodents when she gets hungry. They have excellent eyesight that can spot a mouse 250 yards away and big flat paws that help them move very quietly. Lynx can travel about 12 miles a day, but the chances are she hasn’t gone far. We will be putting out camera traps around the perimeter of the zoo and relying on sightings by the public. Once we learn her location and follow her trail pattern we can set up monitored traps to catch her. We thank you for your vigilance and remind you once again, please do not approach this wild animal. Please call Borth Wild Animal Kingdom and we will send our keepers right away. 01970 871224”
Let's hope this one gets back home like last year's Dartmoor Zoo Lynx. Allegedly the escape of two or more from the now defunct (and quite wonderful in its day) Norfolk Wildlife Park, led to breeding in the wild and one or more shot by gamekeepers. Allegedly.
Interesting. I used to live rurally and quite a few of the farmers and hunters believed that there were big cats of some type or another in the wild around the UK.
Mishaps of released zoo lynx in Poland shows that most likely is one of the two: - she will be quickly hit by a car and found dead on a side of a motorway. - she will enter a chicken house or a rabbit pen when hungry, and found calmly resting there, unaware that she did something wrong.
Here's an update on the escape, from the zoo's Facebook; Lynx update - found but not yet captured. We are closing the zoo tomorrow to allow all of our staff to dedicate their time to hunt for Lilleth. She has been spotted several times on the hill behind the zoo (we didn't think she would go far) but, at the time of writing this, she has not been tempted into either of our bait traps. If she is captured tonight then tomorrow will be business as usual. If not then all of our keepers will be diverted into joining the hunt in the morning. Tomorrow we will have access to several more bait traps and will be setting up a funnel trap in the hope that we can flush her into it. As a last resort we have trained marksmen with dart guns but we want to avoid drugging her if possible. We would like to apologise to our visitors for any inconvenience caused by us closing at which is one of our busiest times of the year and we would like to thank everyone for all their support. We will be reopening as soon as Lilleth is caught. There seems to be some puzzlement as to why it took 5 days for us to report our missing cat and I would like to explain. The lynx enclosure is old and very badly designed (we are in the process of building a much larger, modern enclosure on the side of the hill). There are a few blind spots in their current enclosure which cannot be investigated without going right into the enclosure. Lilleth fed as usual last Tuesday but Wednesday was fighting with one of the adult Lynx and didn't come out for her food that evening. She was spotted hiding in the undergrowth on Thursday but still didn't come out for feeding. On Friday we believed she may have been injured and had hid further into the undergrowth so we started to move the other lynx (we have five altogether - two adult females and 3 kittens) into a separate pen. Saturday we set up camera traps but they caught no movement whatsoever. Early Sunday morning, believing she was badly injured in her den, we sent in three keepers in protective gear to do a full inspection. It came as a real surprise that she wasn't in there and we notified the authorities straight away. It is a mystery as to how she escaped. Experts have examined the enclosure and it is believed she climbed some slender tree branches and made a giant leap to the perimeter fence, possibly chasing a bird. The fence is electrified so she would have got a shock. The trees closest to the perimeter have now been cut down so once Lilleth is recaptured we do not have a re-occurrence. We thank you for your support at this difficult time and we will update you as soon as we have more news.
Missing Lynx. When they recapture her, it won't have done this place any harm, some welcome publicity in fact and putting it on the map more. It probably helped Dartmoor a bit when it happened there also.
An article has come out stating that the Lynx called 'Lilleth' has killed several sheep in Borth; Escaped lynx kills seven sheep. Is this a stark warning for release application? | South West Farmer
Sounds like agenda-fuelling bollocks to me. Exclusive: Sheep farmer speaks out over 'lynx attack' - Farmers Weekly
Yep, tonnes of farming sites and forums reporting on it, with all the proper news media simply repeating claims. A few media articles add in something like "the zoo officials think it is unlikely the lynx killed the sheep" but it is buried in "lynx massacres sheep".
This article is even more rabid: Missing Lynx still on the run, killing a sheep per day since it’s escape | THATSFARMING.COM It opens with: A lynx, which recently escaped from a wildlife park in Wales, has been causing havoc for local farmers. A lynx went missing last week from a Wildlife park in Ceredigion, Wales, with reports flooding in of animal deaths due to lynx attacks, as reported by fwi.co.uk.
Some links to articles: Escaped zoo lynx is 'destroyed' Escaped lynx destroyed amid fears for public safety Welsh zoo where lynx went missing is to be inspected by council
How unfortunate! The term 'humanely destroyed' is so weird to use. I hope the zoo's inspection goes well.
This was a lynx, not a tiger or Leopard on the loose! I'm sure there are plenty of pet dogs running free on public land that could do more damage and be more of a danger to the public!
That's quite right one would believe by the media as if a big cat such as a Tiger were running loose in the English countryside I guess they never lets the facts get in the way of a good story!
Very sad news today that a second Lynx died at the establishment. 'Nilly' became asphyxiated by a catch-pole whilst trying to move her in order to check the enclosure before inspections. Of course accidents happen but this raises serious questions about the zoo's enclosure security and whether they're training staff to follow proper handling procedures now. I fear this might be the final nail in the coffin unfortunately.
