Rare Endangered Lynx Spotted in Vermont for the First Time Since 2018

September 4, 2024 11:27 PM

Rare Endangered Lynx Spotted in Vermont for the First Time Since 2018. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department has only confirmed seven sightings of the wildcats since 2016. "Canada lynx are endangered in Vermont and threatened nationally," Brehan Furfey, a wildlife biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, says in the statement. "That makes any verifiable lynx sighting in our state important. This newest sighting is especially exciting, because the cat was spotted in Rutland County, far south of most confirmed lynx reports in Vermont." (Smithsonian magazine.)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (8 comments total)

While there are a fair number of lynx living in some northern US border states, in that part of the world they're most often seen when the snowshoe hare population crashes in Canada and many lynx extend their ranges looking for their favorite food. This happens on a roughly 10-12 year cycle and I think we might currently be at the tail end of the most recent such snowshoe hare crash (the previous one was in the early 2010s).

Since it's sometimes difficult to tell if you've seen a lynx vs a bobcat, here's a good rule of thumb: if all you witness is a blur as it runs away, that was a bobcat. If it's just sitting there staring at you, that's a lynx.

Unfortunately, as the boreal forest retreats to the north over the coming decades due to global heating, snowshoe hare will decline in the northern states and so will sightings of lynx.
posted by theory at 1:04 AM on September 5 [2 favorites]

[g:] links to lynx
posted by HearHere at 3:39 AM on September 5

The video in the article is wonderful; what a beautiful animal, strolling along.
posted by mediareport at 4:08 AM on September 5

Alas, this cat is not for hugging
posted by Kitteh at 9:28 AM on September 5

CAT
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 9:36 AM on September 5

People in Vermont want so badly to think that there are catamounts about. It's nice to see a big cat spotting that is easy verified and indisputed.
posted by jessamyn at 11:47 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]

There's something about the possibility of big cats being around that leads to seriously creative interpretation of the available evidence. A few years ago here in central New Jersey, the municipality next to mine flipped out because a large orange domestic cat was caught on video and the police called it a bobcat. While there are bobcat in northern New Jersey, this clearly wasn't one, but that didn't prevent a bit of frenzy. And yet even after this, there are people who swear there are mountain lions around here.
posted by mollweide at 6:09 PM on September 5

Theory, my experience has been the opposite. I've ridden right past a sitting bobcat 30' away, and (s)he never batted an ear. One used to casually stroll past the visitor's center at the State Park I worked at a couple times a month, even when I was changing sprinklers. I've seen lynx briefly (mostly the tail disappearing in the rocks) and then have turned back on the trail and found those big paw prints right over the horse's tracks. Or if you're riding a loop, you keep catching a glimpse high and out of the corner of your eye.... That gives me the shivers.

I know they're not exactly the pssspssspssss kinda kitty, but I really hate that they're legal to shoot here.
posted by BlueHorse at 7:42 PM on September 6 [1 favorite]