A lynx captured near Harbor Beach is currently living at the Detroit Zoo, where her final destination remains up in the air.

The zoo received the lynx from Howell Nature Center on Tuesday, March 19, said Randi Meyerson, Detroit Zoological Society deputy chief life sciences officer. The zoo is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to decide where the animal will go.

The lynx, a female, is currently staying in an indoor space with an artificial habitat, Meyerson said. The lynx is observed via cameras to minimize its exposure to people.

"We don't want her to acclimate to people," Meyerson said. "When we're gone, she explores."

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Aside from an injured toe on her rear right foot, the lynx is in good health, Meyerson said.

Dan Kennedy, Michigan DNR endangered species coordinator, said the team has some research to do before they can make a further decision about the lynx.

"We're doing some more homework," Kennedy said.

The team is trying to determine whether the lynx had been a wild or captive animal. They are trying to decide whether to release her, and if they decide to do so, where that would be. The team wants to make this determination as soon as possible, but no hard timeline is set, Kennedy said.

The lynx was captured near Harbor Beach earlier this month after it had caught eating domestic geese on an area farm. It was caught using a MB 550 foothold trap by Applegate trapper Jordan Cook. Kennedy said the last confirmed lynx in Michigan's lower peninsula was in Oscola County in 1917.

Also this year, a video taken near Lexington appeared to show a lynx. The Michigan DNR was able to determine that the video had been shot in the location claimed, but video evidence alone is not enough to confirm the sighting.

The lynx was designated a threatened species in 2000. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the decline of lynx in the lower 48 states was due to trapping and timber harvests that removed and changed habitat.

For more information on lynx can be found on their page at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website at bit.ly/2FiVkRC.

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