Backlash over shooting of escaped lynx as animal park says it is 'devastated and outrage'

An animal park has said it is “devastated and outraged” after a lynx that escaped last month was shot dead by authorities.

Eurasian lynx Lillith had been missing from Borth Wild Animal Kingdom near Aberystwyth since October 29.

The one-and-a-half year old, who was twice the size of a domestic cat, was shot dead after Ceredigion Council said the risk to the public had increased when she “strayed over to a populated area of the community”.

The decision has sparked outrage, including from the animal park where Lillith escaped from.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page on Saturday, a spokesman said: “I would like to make it clear to everyone … that the decision to kill her was not ours and we in no way agreed to or participated in the shooting of our baby Lynx. We are truly devastated and outraged that this happened.”

An operation by keepers to return the animal to the park yielded several sightings of Lillith but Ceredigion Council said the decision was taken to humanely destroy the cat after the risk it posed to the public increased “to severe” following failed attempts to recapture it.

Despite the park saying there has never been any recorded attacks by a lynx on a human, a statement shared by Aberystwyth central councillor Ceredig Davies on Facebook said once Lillith had strayed to a populated area it was necessary to “act decisively” in the interested of public safety.

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The statement said: “Despite exhaustive multi agency efforts to recapture the class A animal, the multi-agency group responding to the incident received additional advice late on Friday afternoon, 10 November, from a specialist veterinary surgeon that the risk to public well-being 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.”

The decision sparked outrage, with many questioning why the lynx was not shot with a sedative.

One Facebook user wrote: “Question: if it was in close enough range to be killed, why could it not have been shot with a sedative?”

Another said: “Other countries can tranquillise big cats & other wildlife, capture and move them to another location away from populated areas. Shame on Ceredigion.”