A Lynx "Terrorises" Leningrad

Lynx News: click HERE for No Frames Option

A Lynx "Terrorises" Leningrad

CAT NEWS
Issue 10, Spring 1989

A lynx "terrorized" citizens of Leningrad for several days this January, according to the Tass newsagency.

The report, quoted by Agence France Presse, said the police were submerged by appeals from the public who had seen the "dangerous animal" in various public places. They called in professional hunters to find it.

It was thought at first that the lynx had escaped from a zoo, but it was later accepted that it had wandered in from the countryside, where fauna and flora are protected. After three days the police located the lynx in a park close to the fortress of Peter and Paul. While some people wanted it shot, conservationists vigorously defended it, but, as the argument raged, the lynx returned to the forest.

The report said that wild boar, and even beaver, were frequently seen in Leningrad, but it was the first time a lynx had appeared.

Cat News is published twice a year by the Cat Specialist Group and mailed to Group members across the globe. Friends of the Cat Group is a project set up to enable those interested in furthering the conservation of felids, to contribute to a fund administered by the Chairman of the Cat Specialist Group, World Conservation Union (IUCN).

To become a Friend and receive your complimentary annual subscription to Cat News, simply mail a minimum donation of Sfr.45 or US$40 to:

IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group,
Chairman, Peter Jackson,
1172 Bougy-Villars, Switzerland