The suspected criminal activity behind the lynx released in the Highlands

The release of four lynx, a wildcat now extinct in the UK, was initially expected to be a ‘wildlife crime’, however now experts are turning their investigations towards organised crime.

On the 8th January, members of the public spotted a pair of lynx in the Scottish Highlands, near Kingussie. A few days later, another pair was spotted, and all four were humanely captured by the Royal Zoological Society Scotland (RZSS) shortly after their release.

Of the four captured, one died overnight in captivity. The other three – which experts have aged at around a year old – are in good health and being quarantined in Edinbrugh Zoo.

Chris Lewis, captivity research and policy manager at Born Free, spoke to The Scottish Mail on Sunday and said “There is a criminal element there. The keeping of exotic and dangerous pets is linked to other illegal crime.”

“Someone might have been looking to sell the lynx and didn’t realise the legislation in place here (in the UK) and decided to cut their losses.”

There is a market for small wildcat species in UK, Born Free’s 2023 figures show 31 lynx privately owned under license. The Highland council said that no licenses were applied for in the area where the lynx were found prior to the release.

Chris Lewis also said there is an “element of status and bravado in owning” big cats like lynx, they also “sell for quite a lot of money”.

The four wildcats were reportedly ‘starving’ when captured. RZSS chief executive David Field said that they were likely bred in captivity as “they aren’t used to hunting”

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He goes on to say that: “Part of the police investigation will be around private facilities – they will have come from an enclosure in a private facility.”

An anonymous conservation expert told the Scottish Mail on Sunday that the lynx may have come from another country, saying that: “The obvious origin would be from a country that doesn’t have a dangerous animals act or similar laws

“You would also be edging on the border of other criminal activities”.

David Field from the RZSS also speculated that “rogue rewilders” could be responsible. Those who “bypass all the established international best practices” and who could have released the animals in frustration directed towards the animal’s extinction from their natural habitats in the UK, over 500 years ago.

An RZSS spokesperson said: “There’s been huge support from the public on this case and we’re sure people would love to visit the trio were they to stay in Scotland and be on show to the public”.

Cover image via Unsplash