Runaway Lynx found killed by a train

A wild lynx that escaped in spring after a small landslide from a hill around its enclosure demolished a wall has been discovered run over by a train.

Keepers have spent months setting up traps around the Mautern adventure Park near Salzburg in Austria without any sign of the eight-year-old female wildcat named “Hera”.

Officials had also warned members of the public to keep clear of the four-foot long big cat while wildlife experts, trackers, and huntsmen searched the area.

But now the animal’s body has been recovered after it was spotted by railway workers carrying out repair work on the train track.

The lynx is a protected animal in Europe with around 7000 believed to be living in the wild – although there are not believed to be any living in Salzburg area despite the fact that the wooded environment offers good conditions.

The lynx – with its distinctive tufted ears – leapt a 10ft electric fence surrounding its enclosure after the avalanche left it without power.

Incident investigator Henning Wiesner – head of an inquiry commission set up to study the escape – explained: “The three-and-a-half metre fence without power was no barrier for the animal.”

In the wild lynx prey on roe deer or any other small mammals and would only attack humans if cornered.