Missing lynx from Dartmoor Zoo will be driven back with POO from tigers and lions
Keepers plan to use the strong pheromones from big cats to “dissuade” two-year-old Flaviu from roaming further away
THE MISSING lynx of Dartmoor will be driven back towards its zoo using POO from tigers and lions, The Sun can reveal.
Keepers at Dartmoor Zoo plan to use the strong pheromones from larger big cats to “dissuade” two-year-old Flaviu from roaming further away.
The fugitive feline will be tricked into thinking a larger predator is nearby and retreat.
Head of operations George Hyde said staff are hoping to pinpoint the pussy’s exact location with night vision motion sensor cameras.
They can then lay down a cordon of whiffy droppings from other large predators such as lion, tiger and jaguar around its location.
George said: “The scent of the bigger cats will dissuade the lynx from going further away from the zoo.
“We need to keep him as close as possible and wait for him to walk into one of the traps.”
But zoo owner Ben Mee said they will need clearance from government environment agency DEFRA before laying down the waste as it is potentially harmful and could spread disease.
The plan came to light as it was revealed the fugitive feline may have feasted on a sheep.
A local dog walker came across the mutilated woolly carcass while walking in a cordoned off area where Flaviu is believed to be hiding out.
The man, who lives in Lutton, just half a mile east of the Devon zoo, did not wish to be named, but said:
“I came across a sheep which had been killed.
"It had an open wound on the top of its neck.
"It might have died of natural causes then something has tried to eat it, I'm not sure because I'm not a qualified vet.
"It seems a bit of a coincidence that this sheep has died in the segregated area while the lynx is still missing."
Zoo owner Ben Mee said the sheep had been dead for 10 days and had been left in the field by a farmer because he did not want to disturb the lynx.
RELATED STORIES
Experts say it had died of Gangrenous mastitis, known as black udder, and was yesterday taken away to an offal incineration plant to be burnt.
Ben added: “There is a chance that Flaviu could have had a bite of the sheep because it was found in the area we know him to be.
“There was a gash on its neck which could have been caused by a lynx bite.” Ben added that the dog walker was trespassing on land sealed off from the public under the authority of police and the farmer.
He said: “So the walker ‘accidentally’ strayed into the area across a blocked footpath.
“I must keep stressing it is so important for the public to stay away.”
Two-year-old Carpathian lynx Flaviu has been on the run since chewing out of its wooden pen just hours after arriving from Port Lympne Zoo in Kent last Wednesday night.
The cat, described as the size of a Labrador, knows how to hunt and is thought to be killing rabbit and other small mammals for survival.
Twenty-five traps baited with deer, quail and rabbit meat have been deployed around the zoo – which is 10-miles from Plymouth – but so far Flaviu has taken food from them but not been caught in one.
A police helicopter, thermal imaging drones, a bloodhound, and more than 35 staff and cops were deployed in the days following its escape but all efforts to catch it failed.
Yesterday the zoo received a shipment of straw from its mother’s cage at Port Lympne.
Keepers hope the familiar smell will tempt it back towards its enclosure.
A trained marksman armed with a tranquilliser gun is on call 24-hours-a-day in case of a sighting.
Owner and founder Ben added: “Last night we put out more camera traps and checked the existing ones.
I am still happy that he is likely to be in the area
"We didn't find anything but we think the activity itself caused him to be disturbed.
"The food is still being taken but there have been no new sighting for a couple of days.
"I am still happy that he is likely to be in the area."
Experts say Flaviu has learned to hunt for himself and are worried he could wander onto Dartmoor – nearly 1,000 square km of craggy moorland where he would be almost impossible to find.