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Missing lynx could be heading for Kent home

Two year old Flaviu has been missing since Wednesday Credit: Dartmoor zoo

A runaway lynx could be heading for Kent after it escaped from its new home in Devon.

Flaviu, a Carpathian Lynx, had recently been transferred from his birthplace at Port Lympne Wildlife Park in Kent, to Dartmoor zoo.

But the two year old male disappeared within hours of arriving last week, and since then a huge search operation has been taking place.

The two year old is the size of a labrador Credit: Dartmoor zoo

Now an American-based lynx expert has said the animal might decide there is not enough food in the area and head back to the park at Port Lympne, using its finely tuned homing instinct.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday he said the animal is likely to revert to what it knows:

It cannot hunt for itself because it does not know how. It never learnt from its mother. If it doesn't eat, it will head back to the place where it thinks it can get food and that is Port Lympne.

– Jim Sanderson, lynx expert

Meanwhile in Devon, officers have been using thermal imaging technology to track the animal, which has been spotted a few times, close to Dartmoor zoo.

Members of the public have been told not to approach the animal which can be dangerous if cornered or threatened.