LONDON (AFP) – Park rangers and police captured two lynx which had been illegally released in a national park, a day after two other wild cats were caught.
Police had appealed for the public to stay away from the felines if they were seen in the Cairngorns park in northeast Scotland.
The two were caught on Friday evening and seem in “good health”, according to Helen Senn of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS).
Humane traps were put in place and drones and surveillance cameras were also used to track the lynx, according to the RZSS. Two other lynx captured on Thursday are now in quarantine facilities at the nearby Highland Wildlife Park, and will eventually be transferred to Edinburgh Zoo.
Police are trying to establish who carried out the illegal release.
“It was a highly irresponsible act and it is very unlikely they would have survived in the wild due to a lack of adequate preparation,” said RZSS Chief Eexecutive David Field.
“Their abandonment was reckless to the animals, public, the community and nature.”
Lynx are not considered dangerous to humans and prey on mammals such as deer, rabbits, and mice.
They were once native to Britain but habitat loss and hunting led the them dying out between 500 to 1,000 years ago. Lynx to Scotland, a project working to return the cats to the country, condemned the illegal release.
