My namesake escapes!

[Lilith]

Lol!

But unfortunately ...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... orth-wales

Uh oh ...

I mean, she couldn't be. The zoo are quite right ... apparently as well she's looking skinny

[MarySkater]

She'd certainly scavenge a dead animal - after all, raw dead meat would be her normal diet in the zoo. I still don't see her killing an adult sheep, but she's going to get the blame.

[Ruth B]

Having seen Lynx in zoos and helped out with sheep on a farm, I very much doubt that a lynx could take down a full grown healthy sheep. Lambing season shouldn't have started yet, even the earlies aren't normally born until January and then normally indoors due to the possibility of bad weather. I could however quite understand how if a hungry lynx found the carcase of a sheep killed by something else, or even one that was ill, injured or just very old, she might think Christmas had come early and make the most of it. Unfortunately times are hard for farmers and if they think they can make a bit of extra money through compensation for a sheep that died anyway you can't really blame them.

People have always been quick to blame predators for any livestock deaths throughout history, you only have to look at the wolf's reputation to see that. There are ways to have predators and livestock sharing the countryside but people will need a lot of educating for it to work out the way it should.

Fingers crossed that she decides to go home before any idiot decides to solve the 'problem' permanently.

[Lilith]

Yup, if she found a dead sheep of course she'd investigate ... It's ridiculous, I guess she'd be around the size of a King Charles spaniel - could an animal that size really bring down a hefty Welsh sheep? Those ewes are powerful, but I'm afraid some (not all) farmers like to blame anything and will even shoot a mousing cat.

Quick google - a KC spaniel weighs around 8k; Lilith will be much more muscular - perhaps 9/10k. Your average Welsh ewe weighs around 90k! I think a lynx would just keep out of a live one's way, especially with smaller wildlife to prey on. A pack of lynxes might do it, but I doubt one on its own could.

Good luck Lilith!

[Kay]

sheep fetch so little here in West Wales on the market that they are often neglected when it comes to feed and veterinary attention, and many die through neglect rather than predators

but I suspect there would be compensation for a sheep killed by an escaped lynx, so the cynic in me suggests some farmers are seeing an opportunity here

I hope I'm wrong

[bobbys girl]

It sounds that way Kay . Come on Lilith dear stop messing about and come home.

Good job she didn't escape around here - there are far too many trigger-happy nut jobs at large.

[alanc]

I think you have underestimated your namesakes weight, Lilith. Maine Coons can get up to 11kg and Lynxes are bigger than Maine Coons. My cat book says the European or Northern Lynx is 13.5 to 29kg (I expect Lilith being female is towards the lower end of that range) - still no match for a fully grown Sheep, though. I have a suspicion that Kay is right regarding motives for blaming her for the sheep deaths. At least, if that is right, they may think twice before slaying the goose that lays the golden eggs!
I hope anyone will realise just how unpopular they will be if they shoot Lilith before they do such a deed.

[Lilith]

Hi, Alan, no, she's only a young lynx, it says, about the size of a KC spaniel - perhaps that detail wasn't in that latest report. Yes, a full-grown lynx is much heavier.

Yes Kay I think you're right too ...

[alanc]

Hi Lilith - yes, I missed that bit. Even less likely she would kill a fully grown sheep. So the farmer is claiming that a cat the size of a Maine Coon has killed 6-7 sheep - totally preposterous.

[Lilith]

Yup, that's about the size of it ... or the lynx. I'm surprised some bright spark media type hasn't thought up the headline 'Lynx spotted' ... well, aren't all lynx spotted ...

Latest news report - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-nort ... s-41944467

But no positive news of Lilith Save that 'inspectors' are being called in to review the big cat management at the zoo. And there's a breathtaking video clip of lynx at the zoo. Oh and the sheep postmortem couldn't prove lynx attack.

Lilith wuz innocent!

Good luck Lilith!

[Alice]

A sad end to the story of the escaped lynx.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-nort ... s-41944467

RIP Lileth

[bobbys girl]

I know, I couldn't believe it! Poor Lilith was a 'threat' to no one. They probably just got tired of her making a fool of them.

RIP young Lilith, so sad.

[Kay]

if they can get near enough to shoot, why can they not have used a tranquillising dart?

Borth is a small town in a sparsely populated countryside, and I suspect there were insufficient resources or expertise available, or willing to be made available, to capture Lilleth alive - no mention of any input from outside bodies either

[Lilith]

Yes, why not a tranquillising dart, and in the first place?

[Lilith]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-41953073

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9asMxlBCHs

[Ruth B]

Just caught the news this morning as we were heading out to visit my Mother in South Wales. Such a shame and like people say why couldn't they have tranq her instead.

Unfortunately I was also thinking that as they had been keeping the zoo shut while they tried to catch her to help keep crowds down, was it starting to cost too much, I know it is winter but many zoos stay open year round as they animals have to be looked after so they can't just shut up and pack everything away for off season.

No one who knew anything could have considered her a threat, however there are far too many ignorant people out there willing to believe anything they are told.

RIP Lilith the Lynx, your life was too short.

[Ruth B]

My apologies to the zoo, it sounds like it was the council decided to kill her, I just came across this article.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-41953073

[Kay]

more details here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -dead.html

the excuses for not even trying to tranquillize her are really pathetic

[MarySkater]

I just hope she enjoyed her few days of freedom.

[Lilith]

Call me a wuss but I've been bursting into tears all day. It's just that she was such a beautiful wild creature and the whole episode has been massively bungled by the sound ... the zoo seems amateurish; surely procedure should have been in place in case a big cat escaped, and measures taken to access an anaesthetic dart marksman. But the magnificent condition of the lynx in the videos shows I think that they were getting it right in that respect, so not all bad. As for the callous killing of her ... hysterical

Poor little girl. As a friend said today, now she can run free for ever.

Lady of all Wild Things Protect, little Lilith; you are hers now.

[bobbys girl]

Trying not to think about it - it makes me angry, so stupid such a waste of life.

Friends in Spain occasionally see a wild lynx on their property. They feel privileged to do so.

[Mayday21]

Hi folks alas wasn't brave enough to read the post re Lilith the Lynx .... RIP lovely girl ... you certainly didn't deserve this outcome - karma will get the perpetrators. Hope she's with Elsa from 'Born Free'. Vivian

[Kay]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-41964094

this zoo is not, it would seem, fit for purpose

[Lilith]

I'm afraid I've been feeling very cynical and nasty and thinking, 'hmmm, good publicity for the zoo' and wondering why, despite the terrain, Lilith wasn't caught when she was being regularly tracked and seen, but this news reminds me of that Oscar Wilde quote.

'To lose one may be regarded as misfortune, to lose both looks like carelessness'

Or words to that effect.

I only hope the remaining lynx have a safer future, whatever the outcome