Armed cops hunt ‘hungry’ big cat in Devon after it chewed its way out of enclosure in Dartmoor Zoo
Huge search for predator roaming the countryside after it busted out of enclosure one day after it arrived
A HUNGRY big cat was prowling the countryside last night after chewing out of a zoo enclosure.
At least 30 staff with tranquilliser guns joined armed police with sniffer dogs and a helicopter hunting the labrador-sized lynx, which escaped yesterday before feeding time.
The Sun sent a hunter too — a reporter in safari suit and pith helmet, and clutching a net to help scour nearby woodland.
The public was warned not to approach the two-year-old male, parents were urged to keep children in sight and farmers were told to keep an eye on livestock.
The lynx, called Flaviu, arrived at Dartmoor Zoo, Sparkwell, Devon, only on Wednesday night after being transported from Port Lympne Zoo in Kent.
He replaced a lynx which died of old age.
At 10am keepers found he had gnawed through a wooden wall. Around 30 visitors were evacuated and the zoo closed.
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Experts believe Flaviu could cover at least 10 miles a day, meaning residents in nearby Plymouth could come face-to-face with him.
But zoo operations manager George Hyde said: “The likelihood is that he is very scared and will stay away from people.
“He has never hunted and never killed for food, and quite fortunately we are in a rural location so the likelihood of him coming into contact with people is very slim.” He added: “The lynx found a weakness which had not been discovered by the previous lynx which had been held here happily for eight years.”
Flaviu is a Carpathian lynx, native to central Europe’s Carpathian Mountains. They can grow to 130cm (51in) long and 75cm (30in) at the shoulder.
Keepers set humane traps baited with dead rabbits, quail and deer in woodland around the zoo.
Police said they had received several potential sightings and insisted: “Shooting the lynx would be the very last resort and only if required to save human life.”
A spokesman added: “Officers have visited two schools to offer advice and reassurance. If members of the public sight the lynx they should call 999.”
The lynx is not the first animal to escape Dartmoor Zoo - a jaguar missing and a wolf got loose in 2007 and 2005.
Armed police and zoo keepers launched an emergency search mission after the wolf escaped in February 2007.
At the time the zoo's owners described the escape of the Canadian timber wolf as a "regrettable" and "hopefully isolated" incident.
Three-year-old male wolf Parker spent hours roaming the area until he was shot with a tranquilliser gun at a quarry near Cornwood and returned to the zoo.
Parker also escaped two years ago by climbing a tree and jumping on to and over an electric fence. He was captured outside the door of Sparkwell's pub the Treby Arms.
A jaguar also escaped from its enclosure four days after the Mee family moved on to the site.
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