Lynx on verge on being released to natural habitat after tick infestation

The name Cinnamon comes from where she was found — near Cinnamon Ridge. Local conservation officers were called to the area on March 20, but couldn’t find her. They came back the next day, though, and found her, but she was in rough shape.

“Something wasn’t quite right with it,” said conservation officer Austin Lord. “When it walked slowly, it was fine. When it started to move a little faster, its coordination was way off. We weren’t sure if it was a head injury or maybe something was broken. So we were able to capture that lynx with partners with the B.C. Wildlife Park.”

When Cinnamon first arrived, it was thought that she had been hit by a car. But that story didn’t quite add up to park staff.

“She went from being somewhat uncoordinated to completely flat out within a couple days,” noted Reynolds. “She couldn’t move any part of her body. She couldn’t even swallow at the worst of it.”

In the first 24 hours, Cinnamon was on a feeding tube in order to get the proper nutrition. A colleague at the park then asked if staff had checked for ticks. A tick infestation was in fact causing the issues.

“We weren’t even thinking about tick paralysis, so we started looking and found two on her immediately, and we removed them. She didn’t recover right away, so we kept looking for ticks and the next day we found two more ticks that were engorged and took them off,” said Reynolds.

After their removal, the month-long recovery began, but Reynolds says if it wasn’t for the conservation officers, Cinnamon would not have made it.

Plans are now in the works to have her released back near Cinnamon Ridge as early as Monday.

“It’s nice to see an animal like this come in so sick, then being able to release it just makes what we do so worthwhile.”

by Chad Klassen

Lynx on verge on being released to natural habitat after tick infestation

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