Picture hunters ‘hampering efforts to capture escaped Dartmoor lynx Flaviu’

EXPERTS hunting for an escaped Lynx yesterday claimed the search was being hampered by professional hunters trying to photograph the beast.

Flaviu fled from Dartmoor Zoo on July 6 after gnawing a six by four inch hole in its enclosure.

Attempts to capture the animal have failed so far.

Staff said they were doing their best to keep him in the area - but added: "Unfortunately these efforts are being hampered by people trying to get photographs."

And now the zoo has said a so-called professional tracker was caught in the act trying to find the animal with his dog.

In a statement the zoo said: "Just caught another 'professional tracker' with his dog, who was 'just trying to help' find Flaviu.

"Please, the greatest help anyone can give us right now is to stay well away from the area."

A spokesman for Dartmoor Zoological Park added: "We really need this area to be kept quiet and undisturbed so that Flaviu does not move on."

Flaviu escaped within hours of being placed in a new enclosure after he was transferred from Port Lympne Zoo in Kent.

A police helicopter, thermal imaging drones, a bloodhound and more than 35 staff and cops have all been used in the search.

But now just four staff are monitoring the farmland where the cat is believed to be prowling and hiding 24 hours a day.

Paw prints have, however, been found in the area increasing hopes that he will be found.

Zoo owner Ben Mee said: "It's not just a question of one print - there are a number of them and they are being refreshed fairly regularly.

"We have also found patches of flattened grass where he has clearly stopped to eat prey."

An old farm building close to the zoo in Sparkwell, near Plymouth, also had an area of straw pressed down where it is thought the lynx slept in its first days of freedom.

A network of 25 humane baited traps currently surround the perimeter to bring him in.