Lillith the Lynx

I don’t know if you’ve heard about the lynx which escaped from a zoo in West Wales a few weeks ago, but when I heard about her and saw her picture in a newspaper, I had to draw her. She was beautiful. The problem was, after I began to draw her, it was announced that she had been killed because she had strayed too close to human habitation.

They had tried to find her for days and had caught her on camera, the ones they use to photograph animals which take a photo when they detect movement, but she didn’t go in to the traps that they’d set for her.

I hope you won’t mind me writing about this instead of my usual art or nature. I did wonder whether to post this or not but I feel so angry and depressed at what happened that I had to.

Why is it always animals who suffer when humans are to blame for the situation they’re in? It was human error that she escaped and human error that they couldn’t catch her. She had apparently wandered into a caravan park so that was why they killed her, but I really think that was the wrong thing to do. If there were people there at this time of year, all they had to do was tell those people to stay inside while the experts darted her. I know it takes a few minutes for an animal to be knocked out once they’re darted, but as long as the marksman was far enough away, this would have been a better choice.

I doubt anyone would have been in much danger anyway because lynx are just twice the size of domestic cats, which isn’t that big. They’re hardly a proper ‘big’ cat. Also, there hasn’t been a reported attack on a human by a lynx in the countries where they are still roaming freely.

As I say, it’s always animals that suffer. Elephants and rhinos in Africa, orangutans in Borneo, fish and dolphins and sea birds because of the plastic in our oceans….. Why do humans think we have the right to do whatever we want with animals and nature?

I finished drawing the lynx even though I was really upset about what had happened to her. Her name was Lillith and she was only 17 months old.  

I will probably turn this into a piece of art or textile art one day. I feel like I want to remember her and have her as a symbol of everything that humans do to the world. 

I don’t want to leave you depressed, so I’ll finish by telling you this:

I showed my drawing to my father and said it was a lynx. He replied, ‘Oh, draw a few more and you’ll have a chain.’

Have a lovely weekend!