A lynx found dead this month at Purgatory Resort died of natural causes, wildlife officials confirmed Wednesday.
A necropsy of the animal found a tumor in his throat that prevented him from eating, which is uncommon but not unnatural, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
The lynx, which was microchipped, was found dead on the slopes Jan. 8. An initial examination indicated the animal was emaciated.
Parks and Wildlife determined it was an 11-year-old male born in the Bear Creek area near Telluride.
Officials said the animal’s age proves the Parks and Wildlife lynx reintroduction program a success.
“The cat lived a long life in the wild and spent its time in some of Colorado’s most incredible backcountry,” Scott Wait, senior terrestrial biologist for Parks and Wildlife’s southwest region, said in a statement. “The lynx lived in what is the best type of habitat for its species, high elevation and thick spruce-fir forest. This shows that much of Colorado’s high country is suitable lynx habitat.”
Wait was involved with the program to bring lynx back to Colorado, which began in 1999. Lynx from Canada and Alaska were released primarily near the Weminuche Wilderness in Southwest Colorado, because of the area’s sparse roadways.
The dead lynx’ mother was among the first generation reintroduced to the state. Those cats were fitted with radio collars and monitored. When they denned, biologists would track them and chip newborn kittens. The chips do not provide geographical information, but tell wildlife officials whether the cats were born from the original generation of lynx reintroduced to the state.
In 2005, when the lynx was born, 16 of the animals’ dens were found by Parks and Wildlife biologists – a record number.
The lynx was captured for a study in 2009 and fitted with a GPS collar, which fell off the animal at some point but detailed his geographical range.
While typically elusive animals, several lynx sightings have been reported on social media this winter. Though fresh lynx tracks were discovered in the area after the lynx died, Parks and Wildlife spokesman Joe Lewandowski said it is likely the dead lynx was the same animal that captivated an audience of skiers and snowboarders in late December when it wandered across the slopes, attracting national media coverage.
“We’re very confident it was the one that was spotted,” he said. “It was behaving oddly. People spot lynx every once in a while, but it’s uncommon, and this one was seen multiple times.”
Lewandowski said the department can’t draw conclusions from one lynx, but the fact that the animal lived more than a decade in the wild is heartening for biologists.
Poaching and habitat loss all but destroyed the Colorado lynx population by the 1970s. Ten years after they were reintroduced, the population was estimated to be between 150 and 250.
Lynx are protected under the Endangered Species Act, which means killing the animals is illegal.
In 2002, the U.S. Department of the Interior brought civil penalties against a Bayfield sheep rancher, Houston Lasater, whose sheepherder shot a lynx in 2000 as Lasater was making a bid for county commissioner. The sheepherder said he shot the lynx because it attacked a sheep.
jpace@durangoherald.com
