Parks Canada employee captures more incredible images and video

On March 1, Parks Canada’s Alex Taylor, a resource conservation specialist in Banff National Park, photographed more striking images of a lynx family as they travelled near Deer Lodge in the Lake Louise area.

Taylor was observing the health of the animals and working to keep them away from a nearby road and parking lot.

“This lynx family has been putting on quite the show this winter for a few incredibly fortunate park visitors,” said Taylor. “Given their reclusive nature, we don’t see them that often, so this winter has been pretty special. Though we can’t say for sure, we think they’ve been taking advantage of a rise in the local snowshoe hare population, which is their preferred food.”

The mom and her kitten were in the news last month when Taylor captured images and video of them squeezing through a fence near Lake Louise: https://goo.gl/FkQAb. They’ve also been observed on several occasions at the nearby Lake Louise Ski Area.

“This is a great example of Parks Canada working with the public to help keep our wildlife safe while also sharing a really neat story,” said Rick Kubian, Parks Canada Resource Conservation Manager for the Lake Louise area. “We received a call from Deer Lodge saying that a lynx was acting strangely next to their building which prompted a quick response from our staff member.”

In cooperation with Deer Lodge staff, Taylor was able to observe the mother lynx without disturbing it and determine it was not injured. The mother appeared to be preoccupied with its own reflection in the lodge’s ground floor windows, sitting almost motionless in front of the window for over 30 minutes.

“Deer Lodge staff did a great job of securing the area and keeping their guests a safe distance from the lynx so as not to disturb it,” said Taylor. “I’m pretty sure we all had an incredible and rare viewing experience. It is possible the adult lynx saw, in her own reflection, another lynx that she thought may have presented some sort of a threat to her kitten and she wanted to keep an eye on it.”

Eventually the kitten reappeared from around the side of the building and the pair, now reunited, disappeared into the forest.

Please report wildlife sightings in Banff, Kootenay and Yoho national parks by calling Parks Canada’s dispatch line at 1-888-WARDENS.

Here is a link to the video on Parks Canada’s Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsvRQRkcmE

And here’s a link to the new images:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.555285457837301.1073741825.256686371030546&type=1

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