A pair of lynx illegally released in the Scottish Highlands have successfully been recaptured.

However, two more of the wild cats were released in the same area on Thursday night into Friday morning.

The first pair of Eurasian lynx were initially spotted on Wednesday afternoon in the Cairngorms, a mountain range and national park in the eastern Highlands.

After the sighting was reported, experts from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), working alongside police, managed to recapture the cats overnight on Wednesday into Thursday.

The wildlife conservation charity’s chief executive David Field said the society condemns the act “in the strongest possible terms”.

“It was a highly irresponsible act and it is very unlikely they would have survived in the wild due to a lack of adequate preparation. Their abandonment was reckless to the animals, public, the community and nature.

“For now, we have named them ‘the Killiehuntly two’ and thankfully they appear to be in good health. We are extremely grateful to all the residents, estates, farmers and conservation partners locally that provided information to us and the police,” he added.

‘Captured humanely’

Manager of the RZSS’s saving wildcats team David Barclay explained that specialist keepers set cameras near baited traps and monitored the lynxes’ activity.

“It was amazing to see the lynx being captured safely and humanely, which makes the lack of sleep more than worth it.

“Biosecurity laws mean the cats need to spend 30 days in suitable quarantine facilities, so we will transfer them from Highland Wildlife Park [after 30 days] to Edinburgh Zoo, where we will further assess their health and welfare.

“Long term, they may return to Highland Wildlife Park, which is near where they were trapped, though it is too early to say for certain,” he said.

Second pair

However, on Friday, a further pair of lynx were spotted. Scottish police warned the public not to approach the animals.

David Hetherington of Cairngorms National Park said the presence of two further lynxes at large in the park was detected on Thursday night.

“Although there is a low risk to human safety, we would ask anyone who does spot them not to approach, but instead please call Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident number 0387 of Friday 10 January 2025.

“We are asking members of the public to steer clear of the area, the same place where the first two lynx[es] were recaptured yesterday [the Dell of Killiehuntly] as a build-up of people could disturb the animals and hamper recapture efforts on the ground,” he added.

The Scottish police, RZSS and park authority are working currently to recapture the animals.

Once native

Lynxes were once native to Britain, as well as Ireland, but became extinct in Britain sometime in the middle ages. It is unknown when the animal went extinct in Ireland.

Lynx to Scotland is a conservation group campaigning for a controlled and authorised reintroduction of these big cats.

Members of the three-charity partnership condemned the releases, saying they were irresponsible, illegal and counterproductive.

Information on the Lynx to Scotland website says it is rare for lynxes to attack humans, but there have been a small number of cases, especially when the animals are wounded, captive or rabid.

Lynx mainly hunt deer, but they do kill sheep. A 2014 report from the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research said lynxes killed between 6,125 and 10,093 sheep annually in the years from the turn of the millennium to the publication of the report.

A study compiled for the European Parliament in 2018 said Norway loses 16 sheep per lynx. In some other EU countries, losses are between zero and two head of sheep per lynx.