The call of the wild

When Qi Xinzhang, then deputy director of the Xining Wildlife Park in the capital of Northwest China's Qinghai province, received photos of a lynx from He Shunfu, then head of the park's veterinary hospital, in April 2021, he was confused.

The animal was tethered by a chain in a snowfield, and was cautious and lethargic. "What happened? Why was such a wild animal domesticated?" Qi wondered.

Soon he was told that the lynx had been caught by herders in Gangca county, Qinghai, after it had killed five lambs. The herders then reported the situation to the police. Noticing that the lynx appeared to be blind in one eye, the police officers sent it to the park, also known as Qinghai Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center, for care.

As wild animals are intuitively scared of and keep away from people, it's unusual for them to enter human settlements to attack domesticated animals, which often suggests that they have lost the ability to hunt in the wild. Therefore, Qi guessed it might be an old lynx that was too frail and sick to hunt.

However, things were not as they seemed, and Qi didn't imagine the strength of the bond he would develop with the animal in the following years.

In his newly published book, Lynx and the Zoo, Qi — now a member of Xining Botanical Garden and an online celebrity famous for popularizing knowledge related to wildlife — shares captivating stories about the lynx.