In Defense of the Lynx
“…the she-wolf in her hunting avoided the left fork. For she knew that in the lynx’s lair was a litter of kittens, and she knew the lynx for a fierce, bad-tempered creature and a terrible fighter. It was all very well for a half a dozen wolves to drive a lynx, spitting and bristling, up a tree; but it was quiet a different matter for a lone wolf to encounter a lynx-especially when the lynx was known to have a litter of hungry kittens at her back.” from White Fang, by Jack London
I first discovered the lynx while reading London’s classic tale in middle school. I loved the story and also loved the writer, the well known “Boy Socialist” of Northern California, who achieved international acclaim for White Fang’s companion piece, The Call of the Wild published in 1903.
Also of note is his political fantasy, The Iron Heal (1908), which Leon Trotsky called a work of genius, and where London describes the rise of fascism in America.
Mr. London, we have fulfilled your terrible vision. Be happy you’re not here to see it.
These days, it’s an uncommon occurrence to find a lair full of lynx cubs. A solitary and distinctive creature, Lynx canadensis is one of North America’s most fascinating and beautiful animals. Although sometimes confused with the bobcat, it’s actually easily distinguished by the tip of its tail, which is entirely black, and by its tufted ears.
Mostly nocturnal, it almost always stalks its prey alone, its favorite dish being the hare. In a good year, it may eat 200 or so. In a bad year, when there are far fewer, poor nutrition can makes the cats stop breeding. Basically as the hare goes, the lynx goes.
Although often characterized as “nonchalant” toward humans, evidence suggests that the species avoids humans and for good reasons. Nearly extirpated in North America, thanks to hunting and habitat loss, the lynx finally received some help in the early ’90′s when several petitions were presented to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service requesting the Canada lynx be listed as an endangered species. After a series of refusals to approve the petitions, a lawsuit was filed in 1996 for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to list the Canada Lynx as a threatened or endangered species throughout its entire historic range in the lower 48. That range includes New England, the Great Lakes, the Rocky Mountains and most of the Northwest, 24 states total.
The various petitions were made by twelve groups and two individuals, and all presented overwhelming scientific evidence in support of the listing request. All were denied, despite the acknowledgment by USFWS that the lynx suffered “significant population losses” in the lower 48, and despite a district court decision, where a judge ruled against USFWS for “failing to adequately consider all evidence indicating that the lynx should be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).”
The official position of USFWS in 1997 stated that species protection was “warranted but precluded.” Not enough money or resources, one official stated. At least not enough money for the lynx.
Finally, after years of legal battles, the Notice of Application To Amend an Endangered Species Act, for the Inclusion of the Canada Lynx as a threatened species was filed and approved in 2000. To most thinking humans, mountains of scientific evidence to support species protection within a ecosystem makes sense. But to the radical right, it’s nothing more than a “contrivance of the greens to take our lands,” and a subversive plot designed to “stop logging and thinning,restrict hydro operations, mandate stream regulations, and shut down winter recreation everywhere.”
Basically, a big hoax that somehow took enviro insiders at USFWS six years to pull off. Some insiders they were, because in those six years of battles, there were further significant losses of habitat. Lots of money for industry, but not enough for the lynx.
Fast forward to 2007 and there’s good and bad news. The reintroduction effort in Colorado is bearing fruit, with at least 50 new kittens being born. They seem to be spreading and repopulating other areas, with some collared lynx ranging hundreds of miles. Somewhere between 200 to 500 survive in Maine, although a handful have been shot by hunters, the most recent one being found Aroostook County just this week. It had been shot through the hindquarters with a high-powered rifle.
Poaching of a lynx is a federal crime. Anyone convicted of killing a threatened species faces a fine of up to $25,000 and-or six months in prison. But for me, that’s not good enough. Provided you have good representation, you could probably get off with a suspended sentence and probation and go do it again. Such people are a menace to society and deserve far harsher treatment. They’re mentally deficient. Louts. If we’re lucky, they’ll be harvested by a grizz or shot by Cheney on one of his famous hunting trips. Caught in a spring trap so they can see what it feels like to bleed to death in the frozen winter.
I favor the lynx over the hunter and would be hard pressed suppress my rage toward any human that purposely killed one. It’s mindless killing with no justification whatsoever.
Many more have been injured or killed by spring traps, although a new law will ban the use of those traps in certain areas. A high number are killed by automobiles and non-native diseases introduced into the ecosystem by domestic pets.
How nice it would be to wander through the Southern San Juan’s at dusk and spot one of these magnificent animals bounding through the freshly fallen snow. Exhilarating. Perhaps not as much as seeing a grizz in the San Juan’s, but the chances are certainly better I’ll see a lynx than I’ll ever see a grizz in Colorado. Despite reports of sightings, the last grizz was officially killed in Colorado in 1979. However, it was long believed the last one had been killed in 1950′s by a government trapper, so who knows. Maybe there is one or two lurking in the Tierra Amarilla region. No harm in being hopeful.
Reintroduction? There’s far too much resistance and too little wilderness for grizz to make a comeback, but for the lynx, there is hope.
Why protect the lynx? The reasons are obvious, except to the uneducated majority. The comprehension of this concept requires an understanding of ecology, a subject too often avoided in today’s society. Avoided in favor of studies that increase wealth and prosperity. But for a society to truly be prosperous, its natural systems must be in balance. As Aldo Leopold said, it’s the “prodigious achievements of the profit motive that is largely responsible for wrecking the land.”
All animals in the ecosystem are important. All have value. When one is removed, it upsets the balance, possibly creating population issues with other species. Disease. It adversely affects biodiversity. A good example is the deer population in the eastern U.S. and how it has affected herbaceous diversity within forests.
But reintroduction and recovery of species doesn’t always “restore the balance.” You can’t go back in time. What’s done is done, and all you can do is make a best effort based on sound science. In some areas, human activity has upset the balance to the degree that some reintroduction efforts may even cause more problems than they solve. Better to not get to that point and preserve what’s there. What’s supposed to be there.
So, the lynx now needs us, and we need the lynx.
Yes, we need the lynx because it belongs there, in its natural habitat. It was there before us featherless bipeds showed up. We need the lynx for the simple pleasure of seeing it bound through the snow after the hare. Watching it stalk. For the thrill of knowing that while you’re snowshoeing through a pass, like the lion or the owl, it’s watching you, although you can’t see it.
Imagine if there were no lynx. Would London’s story substitute a bobcat? What if there were no wolves? There’d certainly be no story.
I hope the last chapter has a happy ending, where there are lynx, wolves, grizz and humans. Where humans learn how to co-exist and live in balance with their neighbors, both human and non-human. But the ending is up to us. We have the pens, the computers, the money and the power. The power to either do what’s right and protect life or the power to destroy all life, including our own.
…but Mr. Jack Burns, what if I need that land to log and make money? You obviously care more about a dumb, furry feline than your fellow human being. I suppose you also want health care for poor people too? HAH!