Zoo outraged after their escaped Lynx shot dead
AN opportunity to catch an escaped lynx alive was missed before the animal was shot dead, say the owners of the zoo from which she escaped.
Lillith, the Eurasian lynx which escaped from Borth Wild Animal Kingdom near Aberystwyth more than a fortnight ago, was killed by marksmen on Friday, according to the zoo’s owners, who released a lengthy statement on Facebook.
A Ceredigion council spokesman said the 17-monthold female had been killed on veterinary advice following an exhaustive search after “the risk to public well-being... increased from moderate to severe”.
In the statement published on Saturday, the zoo said: “We are truly devastated by the hunting and killing of Lillith last night.
“For the past three weeks, we have been tracking and attempting to catch her in a safe way.
“We have employed 24-hour, on-site help from expert trackers and animal recovery specialists who have been aiding us in our efforts but she proved to be quite elusive. We have spared no expense or effort in our search.
“The only options available to us were live-catching with nets or luring her into one of the many bait traps that we built and placed in areas she was frequenting.”
At first, the statement said, Lillith escaped to the hill behind the zoo before she “moved across the bog to a remote, dense woodland”.
The statement continued: “We were advised by the government-appointed vet that darting was not possible due to the terrain. We had been pressured from the start to allow marksmen to hunt her with live ammo.
“But we categorically refused that option.
“All the time she remained in the woods we could argue that she was a danger to no-one and we fought for more time to capture her alive.
“Two days ago in the early evening we had a call saying that Lillith had been spotted less than a mile away at a local caravan park.
“The park was closed and empty for the winter period, and Lillith was discovered asleep under one of the caravans.
“When the call came in, we were in the middle of a council inspection and the council officials insisted on accompanying us to the location where she was seen.
“When we got there, the caravan was boarded in on three sides with decking and all we had to do was sling a net across the back and we would have had her trapped.
“Unfortunately, one of the officials insisted that he needed to photograph her and make a positive ID before we were allowed close.
“He slipped and fell going up the bank, which startled her causing her to run past him and off across the fields. After a fruitless search, we were informed that, due to her being in a heavily populated area, they would be issuing a shoot to kill order and we had run out of time.
“We made one final effort yesterday to lay traps for her and we were out all day looking for her with catch nets, but the shocking call came in late last night that they had killed her.
“In just 24 hours, they had called in marksmen who had used state-of-the-art night scopes and thermal imaging cameras to hunt her down and shoot her dead. To say we were devastated was an understatement.”
Zoo owner Tracy Tweedy, who runs the attraction with her family, said she had been left “disgusted” by the outcome.
She claimed a request for Lillith’s body to be returned to the zoo had been denied by officials from Ceredigion council. She said the request been denied so that a post-mortem examination could be carried out. Announcing the death of Lillith, who was around twice the size of a domestic cat, on Friday, a council spokesman said: “It is with deep regret that Ceredigion County Council reports on the humane destruction of the Eurasian Lynx that recently escaped from Borth Wild Animal Kingdom.
“Despite exhaustive multiagency efforts to recapture the Class A animal, the multiagency group responding to the incident received additional advice late on Friday afternoon, November 10, from a specialist veterinary surgeon that the risk to public wellbeing had increased from moderate to severe due to the continued failure of the Wild Animal Kingdom to recapture the Lynx.
“The safety of the public was paramount and therefore once the lynx had strayed over to a populated area of the community it was necessary to act decisively.”