Canada lynx, a rare native wild cat, spotted in Rutland County

A rare native wild cat—the Canada lynx—has been confirmed in Vermont for the first time since 2018 from video recorded on Aug. 17 in Rutland County, according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Dept. (VTF&W).

“Canada lynx are endangered in Vermont and threatened nationally,” said Brehan Furfey, wildlife biologist and furbearer project leader with VTV&W. “That makes any verifiable lynx sighting in our state important. This newest sighting is especially exciting because the cat was spotted in Rutland County, far south of most confirmed lynx reports in Vermont.”

Vermont is on the southernmost edge of the Canada lynx’s range. Most confirmed sightings are in the Northeast Kingdom, which supports the best climate, habitat and food sources for lynx in the state.

“Lynx are specially adapted to hunt snowshoe hares,” said Furfey. “Both species need young forest habitats and reliable snowpack to thrive. In Vermont the best combination of climate, habitat and enough hares to support lynx is in the Northeast Kingdom, and even that is on the low end compared to areas of New Hampshire and Maine where lynx are more common.”

Rutland County, where this lynx was seen walking along a road edge and caught on video by several locals, is not considered a suitable habitat for large numbers of snowshoe hare or, by extension, lynx.

However, like much of Vermont, Rutland County sports plenty of well-connected wild landscapes that allow wildlife to move between different habitats. With that in mind, Furfey suspects this lynx was a male moving through the region looking to establish its own territory, a behavior called “dispersing.” Dispersing lynx can move quickly over long distances and it is possible that this individual is no longer in Vermont.

“Although this lynx appears to be on the thinner side, its calm behavior around passing cars as reported by observers is not unusual for a dispersing individual,” said Furfey. “This lynx was probably just focused on finding food in an area where hares are not abundant and on avoiding competition with bobcats and fishers while passing through southern Vermont.”

Since 2016 the VTF&W has received over 160 reports of lynx, but only seven of these were confirmed. The most recent credible report was from Jericho in 2018.

“If you think you’re looking at a lynx the most helpful thing you can do is take a photo or video and send it to the Fish and Wildlife Department,” said Furfey. “The large majority of photographs our biologists receive are bobcats, but that doesn’t exclude the possibility that a Canada lynx will show up one day.”