Wildlife officials identify lynx found dead at Purgatory Ski Resort

DURANGO, Colo. – A lynx found dead at Purgatory Ski Resort has been identified as an 11-year-old male, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Ski patrollers found the lynx dead near a chairlift on Sunday and sent the cat to a lab in Fort Collins to determine how it died. Those results were still pending Thursday afternoon.

Joe Lewandowski, CPW spokesman for southwestern Colorado, said the lynx was fitted with a tag that allowed staff to identify it as a male born near Telluride 11 years ago.

Lewandowski said the lynx’s mother was one of several cats that had been transplanted in that area.

Colorado began reintroducing lynx to the state in 1999, transplanting 218 of the animals from Canada and Alaska over the following seven years. Officials say the transplanted lynx have given birth to several generations of offspring and the population is stable.