The Park Authority welcomes the news this evening (Friday 10 January) that two additional lynx released illegally in the Cairngorms National Park have been successfully trapped.

An expert team from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), working closely with Police Scotland, Wildland Ltd and Park Authority rangers, have been monitoring the area throughout the day and successfully caught the animals early this evening. The pair will now be checked over by RZSS veterinarians at the Highland Wildlife Park before being moved to quarantine facilities at Edinburgh Zoo.

Grant Moir, Chief Executive of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, said: “We are really pleased to hear the news that the pair of lynx released illegally in the Cairngorms National Park have been safely trapped and are now being checked over by veterinarians at the Highland Wildlife Park.

“We would like to pay tribute to the work of our partners RZSS, Police Scotland and Wildland Ltd, as well as our dedicated team of rangers and members of the local community, who have come together throughout the day to achieve this positive outcome.

“Once again, the Park Authority condemns the illegal release of wild animals in the strongest possible terms and attention must now turn to investigating how this took place. We would urge anyone with information on the release of these lynx to contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 0387 of Friday 10 January 2025.”