Post-mortem planned to discover death of lynx

A lynx that died after being captured in the Cairngorms National Park will undergo a post-mortem to determine its cause of death.

The wild cat was one of four, released illegally, which were caught near Kingussie in the Highlands in recent days.

Helen Senn, Head of Conservation at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) said she was “obviously awaiting our veterinary team’s results before we comment any further on” what caused the animal’s death.

The other lynx captured at the same time is being transported to Edinburgh Zoo.

She said two of the animals were caught last night, while the search group was on patrol. The other two were captured previously.

Alerts on positioned cameras showed that both lynx had entered the trap and the team were able to mobilise quickly and recover them.

Dr Senn said she was not sure why the animals had been illegally released into the wild but said the RZSS “wholeheartedly condemn the abandonment of animals in this way.”

She said: “It could be that people didn’t have the resources to care for these animals properly, or that it’s some kind of guerrilla rewilding attempt.

“The motivations are probably ones for the police to be looking at.”