FRISCO, Colo.—Despite efforts by passers-by and a veterinarian, a lynx hit by a car Friday near Frisco died.
The long-haired cat, released in Colorado as part of the state’s lynx restoration program, was hit on Colorado 9. Drivers stopped and directed cars away from the injured animal, which dragged itself to the side of the road.
Veterinarian Paul Veralli was on his way to work when he noticed the cars stopping.
“I’ve never seen an animal that was more elegant or more beautiful … and to know it was once an inhabitant of this area,” Veralli said, describing how he and other people tried to get the lynx off the road and to the clinic.
He got permission from the Colorado Division of Wildlife to move the cat.
“It was in shock and couldn’t move its back legs,” Veralli said.
He and others alongside the road moved the lynx into a cage. Veralli said about 20 people stopped to help.
Among those who stopped was Susan Fairweather, who arrived just a few minutes after Veralli. A former firefighter, Fairweather said she directed cars away from the cat and Veralli.
Veralli took the lynx to an animal hospital and to determine the extent of its injuries. He said X-rays showed the cat had a broken spine and smashed pelvis.
Shortly after he took the X-rays, the lynx died.
“We see heartbreak here all the time, but it was heartbreaking to see an animal of this magnificence dying … and that we couldn’t help it,” Veralli said.
So far, 13 lynx have been killed by collisions with cars in Colorado, and another 13 have been illegally shot since the Division of Wildlife started trapping the cats in Alaska and Canada and releasing them in southwest Colorado in 1999.
The cat hit Friday likely will be taken to Colorado State University in Fort Collins for a full necropsy, said Division of Wildlife spokesman Joe Lewandowski.
The lynx had a radio collar used by biologists to track the animals.
Colorado’s native lynx disappeared in the early 1970s because of trapping, poisoning and development. The Division of Wildlife has released more than 200 lynx to try to restore the tuft-eared cat to the state. At least 116 kittens have been born.
