Now lynx is choked to death in new tragedy at big cat zoo
A SECOND lynx from a controversial zoo has died, it emerged yesterday.
Nilly, a five-year-old Eurasian lynx, was strangled with a ‘catch pole’, designed for use on a dog, when a keeper attempted to move her from her pen at Borth Wild Animal Kingdom.
Her death was revealed after Lillith, an 18month-old Eurasian lynx who had escaped from her enclosure, was shot dead by a marksman.
Last night almost 1,000 people had signed a petition calling for the zoo, near Aberystwyth in
mid-Wales, to be shut down. Ceredigion County Council is to carry out an investigation. The zoo is now closed indefinitely while safety checks are carried out.
Owners Tracy and Dean Tweedy said Nilly’s death happened as staff made preparations for a council inspection ordered in the wake of Lillith’s escape. Campaigners said five lynx had been kept in a cage that was not big enough.
Naturalist Chris Packham criticised the zoo on Twitter. He said he had posted it a bottle of Lynx deodorant with the note: ‘Use this because your decision stinks.’
Mr and Mrs Tweedy said: ‘When the authorities gave us 24 hours’ notice that they would be carrying out a full cat inspection, we took the decision to move Nilly to a more suitable enclosure.
‘Unfortunately, there seems to have been a terrible handling error where it seems she twisted in the catch pole and became asphyxiated.’ Lillith went missing for almost two weeks after escaping and attempts to recapture her were unsuccessful. She was shot dead on Friday after being spotted asleep under a caravan in an empty holiday park.
The council said it had no choice but to shoot the lynx humanely because experts had warned that the risk to the public had increased significantly. Mr and Mrs Tweedy may sue the council. The Lynx UK Trust claimed Lillith escaped by scaling a tree which zoo keepers had failed to cut back.
Dr Paul O’Donoghue, the Trust’s chief scientific adviser, said: ‘The levels of incompetence and ineptitude [at the zoo] are mind-blowing. You don’t cram five solitary lynx into a single cage together, you don’t leave easily climbed trees in the enclosure and you don’t try to hide these circumstances from a zoo inspector by rushing an animal move, resulting in it being strangled to death with a noose.’
Mr and Mrs Tweedy, who took over the zoo less than six months ago, said they knew there were problems with how some of the animals were housed and had been making improvements. They added: ‘The lynx enclosure was not fit for purpose and certainly not up to modern standards.’