Potential habitat loss is not the only threat to Canada lynx in the region. For the second time in less than a week, a lynx was shot and killed in Southwest Colorado. A male lynx was found on Nov. 1, near Cement Creek Road just north of Silverton. Small wounds on the body revealed that the lynx had been killed by a shotgun blast.

Another lynx was found on Nov. 2 in the Hermosa Park area about 30 miles north of Durango. That lynx had been shot twice by a rifle.

Responding to the news, a coalition of conservation groups announced that they are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the persons responsible for illegally killing the elusive cats. Hoping to raise the stakes and expose the lynx poachers, the seven conservation groups committed to contribute $4,500 in addition to the $500 currently offered by the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s Operation Game Thief program.

Jacob Smith, executive director of the Center for Native Ecosystems, commented that Canada lynx face many threats to survival. “These secretive cats are imperiled by ski area expansion, logging and road building in their forest homes, and numerous other threats,” he said. “The last thing they need is to be gunned down by criminals.”

Sinapu, Center for Native Ecosystems, San Juan Citizens Alliance, National Wildlife Federation, Wilderness Workshop, Colorado Wild, Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project, and Defenders of Wildlife all contributed to the reward. Tips on the lynx killings can be made anonymously through the Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-877-265-6648.

– Will Sands