A Burns Lake man is turning heads after taking a lynx by the scruff after it broke in and attacked his chicken coop.
In a video Chris Paulson sent to Lakes District News, he can be seen holding up the lynx, which is making low-sounding growl.
“Let’s see the damage you did, buddy,” Paulson said, before turning the camera to dead chickens lying at the entrance to the coop.
Paulson was just returning home after a cross-country ski on Sunday (Feb. 21) and was headed up the hill to feed his horses when he heard a ruckus coming from his chicken coop. As he went closer, he saw the lynx inside.
According to Paulson, the lynx wasn’t very big and he could see how focused it was on the chickens. A couple of chickens were already killed by the time he got to the coop, and the wild cat seemed intent on killing them all.
That’s when Paulson entered and grabbed the lynx by the back of his neck.
“I could’ve probably gotten really scratched but he was facing away from me and if he had really started to struggle, I would have just thrown him out the door but he didn’t struggle at all; he just went really passive, just like his mum picking him up,” he said.
For Paulson, who has grown up in the area with wildlife, this was a non-event but it was definitely exciting according to him.
Lynx, with thick fur and conspicuously large, well-furred paws, are common in northern B.C. The reclusive animal, which normally avoids humans and populated areas, weighs roughly seven to 15 kilograms.
If you come across a lynx, officials say that to face the animal and talk firmly while slowly backing away. Do not run as a cat’s instinct is to chase and never offer it food.
“I don’t suggest anyone to do what I did. Avoidance is the thing to do but I assessed the situation and I didn’t feel threatened at all,” said Paulson, who is used to such encounters in the bush.
To top it, the lynx had a mouthful of feathers and chicken parts which he didn’t want to give up and that made him an even lesser threat to Paulson, he said.
Earlier this year, conservation officers trapped a lynx in Kamloops after multiple residential sightings. The wild cat was taken to the local BC Wildlife Park for assessment.
Paulson put the lynx in a large empty dog kennel he had and the animal just settled in there peacefully, he said.
The animal was released back into the wild later in the day.
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