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Escaped Lynx killed - UK (1 Viewer)

I think that no is the answer to that. Just by chance last night I was talking to some of the local Haute-Savoie (France) naturalists who keep an eye on the local Lynx population and they told me that they ignore humans in a very catlike way, just big pussycats and can appear in semi-urban locations! However I am not so sure though that a Lynx that had been in captivity would have quite the same attitude to humans though. I have never heard of a Lynx attacking anyone in this region where there is a thriving population, particularly in the Jura.

Mike
 
What makes it equally irritating is that if it was close enough for them to shoot it, then surely it was close enough to be tranquilised and returned to captivity. Clueless idiots the lot of them.
 
What makes it equally irritating is that if it was close enough for them to shoot it, then surely it was close enough to be tranquilised and returned to captivity. Clueless idiots the lot of them.

Very good point, hadn't thought of that



A
 
I think that no is the answer to that. Just by chance last night I was talking to some of the local Haute-Savoie (France) naturalists who keep an eye on the local Lynx population and they told me that they ignore humans in a very catlike way, just big pussycats and can appear in semi-urban locations! However I am not so sure though that a Lynx that had been in captivity would have quite the same attitude to humans though. I have never heard of a Lynx attacking anyone in this region where there is a thriving population, particularly in the Jura.

Mike

Do you have any idea if the Jura population is self-sustaining? Met with one of the scientists monitoring Spanish Lynx in January and he told us (I think - translation not withstanding!) that they lose at least ten animals a year as road fatalities - quite shocking considering how few roads there are - and how rare the Lynx are!
 
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As far as I know they are self sustaining, there were reintroductions in the past but not as far as I know recently. The population started from some decidedly unofficial reintroductions in Switzerland followed by some official ones. I believe that now they are doing fine on their own. I could find out more if you are particularly interested. Reintroduction began in the 1970s. This report might be useful:-
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ins_and_possible_corridors_to_adjacent_ranges
 
Large enough, but as far as I know they don't. A free roaming heifer in the mountains is probably more dangerous as I can certify having once been attacked by one and having to wrestle with its horns to stop being gored.
Mike
 
As far as I know they are self sustaining, there were reintroductions in the past but not as far as I know recently. The population started from some decidedly unofficial reintroductions in Switzerland followed by some official ones. I believe that now they are doing fine on their own. I could find out more if you are particularly interested. Reintroduction began in the 1970s. This report might be useful:-
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ins_and_possible_corridors_to_adjacent_ranges

Thanks Mike

Interesting reading :t:
 
A Eurasian lynx is comfortably large enough to attack and kill or maim a human being.
Personally, I know of no case of this happening though. Any lynx attack I remember reading about was invariably on pets or livestock.
Aside from the aforementioned cattle, I'd be far more worried about boar, bears, wolves, or even deer attacking anyone. While it's true that lynx could theoretically kill people or cause grievous physical harm, they're not really built to effectively hunt humans (without high risk of injury), unlike leopards or wolves, for example.
 
All of which ignores the fact (as usual) that we expect people in India, Africa etc to endure the risks associated with living with large well-weaponed animals and we should accept the same risks ourselves.

After all, nobody bats an eyelid at the 1 in 20,000 risk of becoming one of Britain's 3000 RTA fatalities a year.

John
 
A Eurasian lynx is comfortably large enough to attack and kill or maim a human being.

Large enough perhaps, but Lynx simply do not attack people. Here in the Baltics, more particularly Latvia and Estonia, Lynx are reasonably common (almost 800 in the small country of Estonia alone), yet I can't recall a single incident of an attack, this being despite hordes of persons wandering around the forests picking berries, mushrooms, etc, this including very often little old ladies out on their own, children loosely associated with wandering parents, etc.

The chances of this Lynx being a real danger to folk are somewhere between marginal to non-existent. I fail to see any reason that it was not tranquilized, instead of shot.
 
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There are no recent records of Lynx killing a human as far as I am aware. I posted the following information on the Mammal thread earlier today referring to a review of the data by Löe & Röskaft (2004) of human deaths caused worldwide by large carnivores in the 20th century.

I will copy and paste the post again here, because it puts the risk into context, and as you say Jos, throughout much of Europe people are wandering around in forests inhabited by Lynx, without any incidents!

Black Bear: 37
Brown Bear: 313
Polar Bear: 12
Sloth Bear: 48
Coyote: 1
Grey Wolf: 607 (the majority from rabies transmitted to the humans from the wolves, rather than as a direct result of the wolf attack itself)
Spotted Hyena: 4
Striped Hyena: 2
Tiger: 12,599
Leopard: 840
Lion: 552
Puma: 18

And yes.. you guessed it....Lynx (of any species)....ZERO!

Oh and what about human deaths caused by pet dogs in the UK... well a freedom of information request to the Office of National Statistics produced the following data...in just the period 1981 to 2015 there have been 78 (Seventy-Eight) human deaths in the UK alone directly attributed to dog bites!

So what is the greater risk to public? One lone Lynx or one of the estimated 8.5 million pet dogs in the UK?

Surely, if one young escaped Lynx is seen as a 'severe risk' to public safety, shouldn't councils be sending out police marksmen around the country to 'humanely destroy' any dog they spot off the lead? And every home with a pet dog surely needs to be inspected that it has adequately secure fencing and gates to be certain that these potentially dangerous animals cannot get out into the streets or neighbouring gardens.

In fact, surely we ought to legislate against such 'dangerous' animals as dogs being kept in 'populated places'?

Come on Ceredigion Council, you obviously take the protection of your local population very seriously, why not proudly be the first council in the UK to help rid the country of the dogs that pose such a threat to us all! And think of all the sheep you would help save....15,000 were killed by dogs in 2016 alone in the UK!
 
Appalled, but sadly not surprised by this. We seem to have an unfortunate intolerance in this country to the thought of any sort of large predator - furred or feathered - being allowed to live their lives.
It does make you worry about the chances of success of the proposed lynx introduction in Kielder Forest.
 
There was a piece on farming today Radio 4 last week early morning with a local farmer fairly sure that the escaped Borth lynx had killed I think it was Seven sheep ...all had neat puncture wounds to the neck with very little external bleeding , unlike in a dog attack, with the Borth zoo keeper as a witness to the casualties, and the Lynx could be seen in the hedgerow watching them !! apparently, I wonder if this was the genuine reason the Lynx was shot I still cannot understand why they could not tranquilize it with a dart gun however.
 
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There was a piece on farming today Radio 4 last week early morning with a local farmer fairly sure that the escaped Borth lynx had killed I think it was Seven sheep ...all had neat puncture wounds to the neck with very little external bleeding , unlike in a dog attack, with the Borth zoo keeper as a witness to the casualties, and the Lynx could be seen in the hedgerow watching them !! apparently, I wonder if this was the genuine reason the Lynx was shot I still cannot understand why they could not tranquilize it with a dart gun however.

According to Radio Two today the dead sheep were examined and there was no evidence of any marks on all bar one and no evidence at all of Lynx involvement, ie no-one saw the attack.
A further Lynx from the same enclosure was accidentally killed when the keepers attempted a move yesterday.
 
!

Oh and what about human deaths caused by pet dogs in the UK... well a freedom of information request to the Office of National Statistics produced the following data...in just the period 1981 to 2015 there have been 78 (Seventy-Eight) human deaths in the UK alone directly attributed to dog bites!

So what is the greater risk to public? One lone Lynx or one of the estimated 8.5 million pet dogs in the UK?

Surely, if one young escaped Lynx is seen as a 'severe risk' to public safety, shouldn't councils be sending out police marksmen around the country to 'humanely destroy' any dog they spot off the lead? And every home with a pet dog surely needs to be inspected that it has adequately secure fencing and gates to be certain that these potentially dangerous animals cannot get out into the streets or neighbouring gardens.

In fact, surely we ought to legislate against such 'dangerous' animals as dogs being kept in 'populated places'?

Come on Ceredigion Council, you obviously take the protection of your local population very seriously, why not proudly be the first council in the UK to help rid the country of the dogs that pose such a threat to us all! And think of all the sheep you would help save....15,000 were killed by dogs in 2016 alone in the UK!

Agree entirely, dogs are dangerous to humans, livestock and wild animals and should be on leads and / or muzzled when in public places.

cheers, alan
 
Tranquilliser darts are only viable at very short distances as they are mainly fired from air rifles or CO2 powered rifles and the tranquilliser dart does not make an particularly aerodynamic or accurate delivery option. Most competent people familiar with their use would not attempt their use at a distance much greater than 50m. Whilst agreeing that the killing of the Lynx was unfortunate, perhaps the authorities who took the decision to kill the lynx felt that an opportunity once presented had to be taken and that the distance was too great to use the less lethal option. Sometimes the Hard option is the one that has to be taken and I am sure the decision to use lethal force in this instance was not taken lightly
 
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