Lynx sighting surprises resident in Joentakana, Finland

Ilkka Rantala, a resident of Joentakana, made an unexpected discovery during his afternoon coffee on Thursday when he spotted a lynx calmly grooming its paws in his backyard.

“My wife was on the phone with our son, and I asked her to hang up and capture a video of the lynx. Unfortunately, a rabbit came around the corner just then. The rest can be seen on the video,” Rantala recounted. The lynx swiftly pounced on a rabbit that had wandered onto the terrace. “It’s quite rare to witness something like that firsthand. The video shows the rabbit in the lynx’s grasp, still wriggling,” he added.

Rantala explained that he and his family remained still, as the lynx would have likely noticed them through the window had they moved. He estimated the entire encounter lasted three to four minutes. “It felt a bit like it was about to attack us when we were positioned by the bay window. It’s amusing that we got it on video; otherwise, it would have just been stories,” said Rantala, who noted this was his second sighting of a lynx.

The lynx population in Loppi has reportedly strengthened, leading to more frequent encounters. Esa Kortesalmi, a wildlife contact representative from the Central Loppi Hunter’s Association, explained that while lynxes usually avoid humans, they may come close in search of food. He has seen a lynx just a few meters away and observed it hunting for about twenty minutes from his vehicle. “Lynx sightings have become so common that people no longer report them as they used to,” Kortesalmi stated.