Escaped lynx Lillith blamed after seven sheep found dead
ALYNX that escaped from a Welsh wildlife sanctuary may have killed seven sheep. The National Sheep Association said “clinical attacks” on livestock could be put down to the big cat, named Lilleth, which is at large after getting out of the Borth Animalarium in Ceridigion over a week ago.
The NSA said post-mortem examinations have been carried out by Welsh Government officials, and they reveal a single bite to the neck to be responsible for the deaths.
It is understood two sheep were partially eaten, while five others appeared to have been killed “purely out of instinct”, according to a statement from the NSA.
The location of the sheep killings has not been disclosed.
The NSA said if the lynx was responsible for the sheep being killed it was a clear signal that reintroducing them into the wild was unwise.
Phil Stocker, NSA chief executive, says: “There cannot be a clearer warning of the damage lynx will do if they are released into the wild. And at a time when Lynx UK Trust’s application to release lynx into Kielder Forest, Northumberland, is under review from Natural England, it could not be more timely.
“Lynx UK Trust continue to assure us that lynx, on average, will take just 0.4 sheep annually.
“A fact which is simply unbelievable given the damage just one has inflicted after several days of roaming free.
“This incident also backs up what we are hearing from a number of sheep farmers in Scandanavia and other parts of Europe who tell us of high losses they’ve experienced from individual lynx that develop the behavioural characteristic of an opportunistic hunter.
“The risk lynx pose to sheep, and the subsequent anxiety which would be suffered by sheep farmers if they were released is clear, but NSA’s concerns reach far wider than that.
“Through their normal work, sheep farmers are continually supporting wildlife and grassland ecology and this valuable activity could be undermined if a lynx release were to go ahead.
“The fact this attack has happened in Wales raises questions around the land mass similarity between that in the proposed release site of Kielder Forest and the area of Wales this incident took place.
“If the release goes ahead and the population expands in the way it is intended, the species could find its way into Wales without any consultation ever taking place there.
“For that reason, NSA believes approval should be sought from England, Scotland and Wales before any decision is reached.”
Armed police were said to be put on standby after the animal escaped.
Owner Tracy Tweedy, 46, who bought the zoo with husband Dean, said: “We are waiting for the results of the blood tests but at the moment there is nothing to say that Lillith killed any sheep.
“The post mortem was inconclusive.”