The Lynx lynx came to visit

My little ones were screaming out of their lungs to get outdoors, I tried to explain to them that it is not possible there is Lynx nearby, oh how they were disappointed when I did not let them outdoors, only fed and played with them.

But there indeed was a Lynx, pawprints as large as my palm and those were quite fresh, no more than 12 hours as there was bit of snow on tracks and it did snow a bit little less than 12 hours from when I spot those tracks.

Now I can't let my little ones out for a few days as Lynx is such that it does circle and it uses same places, so in few days there should be new tracks if Lynx is going to hunt in the area.

One of mine, I have not seen since late summer, last known sighting was in area where Lynx did go to based on it's tracks that I did follow. That of course makes me worried, but there is nothing I can do as I can't trap on that area.

My goodness - first off, so sorry on no one seeing your thread!!! And second, YIKES on the Lynx. Definitely would be on the hunt for cats as well as other small animals. They are very beautiful, these Lynx, but yes - best to keep your cats indoors for the time being. Have you actually had a sighting of this Lynx? Maybe they only come about at night. :dk: I hope that the other cat you are missing has just moved on to another feeding resource. Cats - especially our ferals - have an extremely high self preservation and most times can outwit other hunters. The hunters at times can become prey themselves but are pretty savvy at keeping themselves safe. :cross:

I hope everyone is safe and stays safe! (:

Good you are observant, wise and cautious, @JTbo!

Good luck! 

Luckily Lynxes tend to be out during the dark, of course my little ones would also like to be out at dark, especially when hunter's moon is up, but as Lynxes are more common now than before, I have to limit their access to outdoors quite a bit.

There was sighting from Lynx at nearby farm, Lynx was near the door and when person living there opened the door he got bit of surprise as Lynx bolted from right next to him with rabbit in it's mouth.

Lynx hunting season starts at the weekend, they usually move deeper into woods during that.

I had one in my yard, a couple of years ago. It was just getting dark, and the lynx was marking his territory on the bumper of the car. When I opened the bathroom window, he looked at me like 'What?' stood looking at me for a minute or so, and when I told him to run off, he sauntered down the path into my woods.

catspaw66 said:

I had one in my yard, a couple of years ago. It was just getting dark, and the lynx was marking his territory on the bumper of the car. When I opened the bathroom window, he looked at me like 'What?' stood looking at me for a minute or so, and when I told him to run off, he sauntered down the path into my woods.

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Nice - cars do seem to tend to be marked - especially the tires by dogs. Brave little Lynx staring back at you. I imagine they are used to seeing people. Good that you keep your girls indoors too. :nod:

JTbo - sounds as if the Lynx will move off this weekend if hunting season begins. I am sure they are extremely smart animals and know how to avoid the hunters. It is odd for me to hear about Lynx hunting and I imagine if their population is too large then hunting is allowed just like deer hunting here in the states.

Feralvr said:

Nice - cars do seem to tend to be marked - especially the tires by dogs. Brave little Lynx staring back at you. I imagine they are used to seeing people. Good that you keep your girls indoors too. :nod:

JTbo - sounds as if the Lynx will move off this weekend if hunting season begins. I am sure they are extremely smart animals and know how to avoid the hunters. It is odd for me to hear about Lynx hunting and I imagine if their population is too large then hunting is allowed just like deer hunting here in the states.

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Lynx did almost disappear from here, at 1950 there was estimated that only 10 were left, with actions taken Lynx population has grown so that this year estimate is 2700 - 2900, there has been fast growth during recent years, but during the last year there was not so much growth in population perhaps because there were 700 hunting permits for Lynx last year.

Humans have desire to control animal populations, even humans don't yet fully understand how nature and natural balancing works, it is bit silly, imo.

Even Lynx is threat to my pets, I don't really see point in hunting them, nature will always find a balance, I don't think that we humans are doing much good when changing balance to something we think being 'better'.

It seems that after next week snow cover might finally stay bit longer than 2 weeks, then it would be easy to spot if Lynxes are still on area. Here Lynx can have territory over 700 square miles, so it is bit difficult to know if there is danger or not, but if there are new tracks, they often visit same place few days later.

I did read recently that some people have Lynxes as a pet and even in same household as domestic cats, website claimed that Lynx bonds strongly with human, cat and dog, I don't know how true such is, there is generations of wild animal in them, genes limit a lot of how animal will tolerate human contact. But I guess early socialization can help them to be pets same way as with domestic cats.


There are some quite nice pics from Lynx collected by this website:
http://www.tunturisusi.com/ilves/
http://www.tunturisusi.com/ilves/kuvia.htm