Deducing that it was “no bobcat,” the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department identified for the first time since 2018 the Canadian lynx, a rare species whose migration range included Vermont. The state of Vermont is on the southern edge of the Canada lynx’s range, where these wild cats hunt snowshoe hares, and both species need young forest habitats and reliable snowpack to thrive, said the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.
Not A Bobcat
According to the Miami Herald, Gary Shattuck, a Vermont native, saw a strange big cat while driving Saturday, Aug. 17, so he took a video and sent it to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. Officials were quick to identify the strange cat, sharing it in a Facebook post.
“Giant back feet? Check! All black tail tip? Check! Telltale upward-sloping hind quarters? Check! That’s no bobcat, it’s a Canadian Lynx,” the department recorded.
Officials have a hypothesis that this lynx was a young male passing through looking out for a new spot of territory, which biologists refer to as “dispersing”, and has moved on past Vermont. Dispersing is a behavior in which a lynx moves through the region looking to establish its own territory, moving quickly over long distances.
Rare Canadian Lynxes
Canada lynxes (Lynx canadensis) are federally threatened, even labeled endangered in Vermont. The lynxes are difficult to find, even in the spots that get more lynx sightings like Maine and New Hampshire, officials said in the post. However, Joshua Morse, a Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department spokesperson, believes people shouldn’t be discouraged from reporting possible sightings.
“Even though it’s very rare for people to actually see lynxes, we want folks who think they have seen one to take a photo and reach out,” Morse said. “Every once in a while, it actually is a lynx, and we want to know.”
Vermont wildlife biologist Brehan Furfey concurred in a statement. “If you think you’re looking at a lynx the most helpful thing you can do is take a photo or video and send it to the Fish and Wildlife Department,” the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department biologist said. “The large majority of photographs our biologists receive are bobcats, but that doesn’t exclude the possibility that a Canada lynx will show up one day”.
Morse said the department receives an average of 20 Canadian lynx sighting reports per year, but this is the first confirmed sighting since 2018.
Conclusion
Brehan Furfey, furbearer project leader with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, is going with the official’s hypothesis, stating “This lynx was probably just focused on finding food in an area where hares are not abundant and on avoiding competition with bobcats and fishers while passing through southern Vermont,” he said.
Habitat loss is a major threat to all endangered species. Lynxes are no exception. This is part of the reason why the situation is so important for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, and helping with their preservation efforts.“That makes any verifiable lynx sighting in our state important,” said Furfey.
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