Rare predator set to make history after international journey: 'I had a few tears in my eyes'
A British-born lynx is on the precipice of making history hundreds of miles away from its original home at the Newquay Zoo.
The BBC reported on the unusual saga of the female lynx, whom conservationists hope can survive and thrive in Germany's Black Forest. Last year, there was a shortage of female lynx births in Central Europe, according to Dina Gebhardt, the lynx-breeding coordinator for the European Endangered Species Programme.
Thus, Gebhardt made the unorthodox request to the Cornwall zoo to see if it would send over a one-year-old female.
"Of course, we said yes straight away; that's something that we'd love to do," the zoo's curator of plants and animals, John Meek, told the BBC.
The lynx was transported via truck to its new temporary home, a 1,200-square-meter (3,937-square-foot) enclosure. The animal wandered out carefully into its new surroundings, which prompted an emotional response from Meek.
"I'm a big boy, but I had a few tears in my eyes," he said.
If all goes well, the lynx will be able to regain its fear of humans and show off hunting and survival skills over the next few months. From there, it would be reintroduced to the wild, making it the first United Kingdom zoo-born cat to achieve that feat.
It would represent another conservation win for the lynx in Europe that would join a resurgence in the animal in Iberia. Sightings of North American lynxes have amazed onlookers and heartened conservationists.
No matter where they are spotted, a key concern for conservationists is that interaction with humans is minimized and they are given proper room to roam. Lynx play an important role as a predator in the Central European ecosystem by controlling the deer population and preserving forests, according to lynx reintroduction chief Eva Klebelsberg.
"Our ecosystems in Europe are missing large predators," Klebelsberg explained to the BBC.
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This female lynx could help play a small but important role in fulfilling a need. The team in charge of the animal has little concern about its ability to hunt. The real challenge figures to be the lynx's familiarity with keepers who feed it, and zoo visitors who ogle it.
No matter how it goes, Meek will be watching from the UK.
"Nowadays, zoos are not here to keep animals in cages," he said. "They're there for conservation."
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