Lynx sighting excites geologist
Sunny day brings elusive feline onto snowmobile trail near Vee Lake
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, April 10, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A geologist working at TerraX is excited after spotting a lynx laying in the morning light near Vee Lake about two weeks ago.
Eric Hebert from Quebec said he has been in the city working at the mine site for one month and he's already seen the creature twice. Hebert said he's been making evening trips to the area, but decided to visit during the morning in the last week of March.
"I was like 'Wow, what's that?'" said Hebert. "And when I got closer I was like 'Wow, that's a lynx.'"
Hebert, from Gaspesie in eastern Quebec, is used to seeing caribou and moose but this is the first time he's seen this particular member of the feline family.
"It's always good to see nature. I like the North and being far away from cities. Here we have the advantage of a city but in the wild. So the best of two worlds," he said. "And we (mine workers) try to keep a low profile so we don't disturb them too much. And he didn't seem too much bothered so that's a good thing."
Judy McLinton, spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR), said Hebert's sighting is rare, although lynx are plentiful across the North.
"Lynx are all over in the area," she said. "He's out in the bush you'll see them. He's lucky to see a lynx."
According to the ENR website, Lynx inhabit boreal forests across the continent, but in the territory they're found below the treeline, in the southwest and in the Mackenzie Delta most regularly. They eat snowshoe hares and their population fluctuates depending on the availability of that prey animal.
They're a medium-sized wild cat, weighing between 17 and 22 pounds on average, have long legs, snowshoe-like paws, long-thick fur with distinctive ear tufts and a black-tipped tail.
Hebert said he judges the specimen he's been seeing as a "pretty big" one.
