3 mo. ago • 98%

German zoo frees tiny lynx that kept trying to escape

www.thetimes.com German zoo frees tiny lynx that kept trying to escape

Chapo walked out of his box, had a look round then trotted briskly along the forest path and disappeared into the undergrowth

26 comments

A young Carpathian lynx called Chapo, which is Spanish for Shorty, has won his freedom after repeated escape attempts and is now roaming the wilds of Saxony in search of rabbits, foxes and deer.

The one-year-old wildcat, which was born in Nuremberg Zoo, had been intended for a breeding programme for the species which was hunted almost to extinction in Germany by the early 1900s.

However, he had other plans and jumped over the fence of his enclosure shortly after his arrival at a breeding station in the Harz Mountains in early June.

He was quickly caught but his wanderlust was evident. “He kept looking for ways out of the enclosure and found it difficult to settle down,” Saxony’s wildlife authority said in a statement.

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- 35
- He looks so happy dashing off.
  
  5
It took me way too many takes to not read "fired" and I kept trying to figure out in what capacity he had been hired.

31
- Repopulation duty.
  
  8
- I first read it as freeze.
  
  2
Bad paywall

16
- https://archive.is/bvwHe
  
  30
  
  Thank you!
  
  7
Good!

6
Okay... but was there a way for him to learn how to hunt before he was released?

If not he could be in big trouble.

2
Now do the rest of the animals!

-20
- The lynx was part of a program to make them not endangered anymore, so releasing was always part of the plan. This is the case with many zoos.
  
  55
  
  Do you happen to have any stats on the percentage of animals in zoos where the goal is to release them into the wild, and maybe the percentage of ones too injured to ever be able to release?
  
  -5
- BS. Most of them could not survive one day.
  
  29
  
  He probably got eaten to death within 24 hours.
  
  -11
- Did you even read the article? He was bred in captivity and was going to be used as part of a breeding program to enhance the numbers of this species which is endangered in Germany. Maybe don't release them before breeding unless they are better suited to being immediately released to the wild like this young Chapo is.
  
  Breeding and release programs for endangered wildlife are good things.
  
  8
Great, another bird killer on the loose.

-22
- This species is endangered in Germany. This is a good thing. And no, lynxes don't generally primarily pray on birds. They can target larger game.
  
  FFS, read the article.
  
  20
  
  Primarily being the operational word here. It's not the same as uniquely.
  
  -11

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