Turkey: Lynx attacked by dogs, rescued by locals

A lynx that took refuge in the high branches of a tree to fend off an attack by dogs in Turkey's Kurdish-majority province of Dersim (officially Tunceli) was rescued, Turkish news agency DHA reported.

The Eurasian Lynx, a medium-sized wild cat that weighs 24-45 kg, is a red-listed species, assessed as critically endangered.

The incident took place near the village of Topuzlu in Dersim's Ovacik district, DHA said. The residents in the area took notice of a lynx that desperately climbed up a tree to flee the dogs' attack, and they called the local office of the Nature Reservation and National Parks when they were unable to get the terrified animal down from the tree.

A team that arrived at the scene staved off the dogs, then waited till the lynx climbed down and ran away into the nearby woods.

Lynx is called "the spirit of the woods" by locals in the region because they usually do not come out in day time and are difficult to observe and record.

In another rare occasion, a lynx recently entered a building at the city center in Dersim in mid July, and vanished off after it wandered around in the building - a driving school - for a while.