Police say two more lynx have been spotted in the same area where a pair of the wild cats were captured on Thursday.

They were seen near Kingussie in the Cairngorms National Park.

Police Scotland have warned members of the public not to approach the animals and said officers are working with specially-trained personnel to capture them.

The force said inquiries suggested that the sighting was connected with the release of the two lynx which were captured on Thursday.

A police spokesperson said: “Members of the public are asked not to approach the animals and officers are working with specially trained personnel to capture them.”

The latest lynx were spotted at about 07:10 on Friday.

The two animals trapped earlier this week have been taken into the care of the RZSS. They are now at Edinburgh Zoo.

The RZSS has condemned the illegal release of the animals as “highly irresponsible”.

Experts from the charity worked with police to humanely trap the forst two cats, which are now being cared for in quarantine facilities at Highland Wildlife Park before being transferred to Edinburgh Zoo.

Lynx were native to Britain until they were driven to extinction 500 to 1,000 years ago.

A licence is required under the Dangerous Animals Act to keep lynx.

Some conservation groups have been campaigning to have the wild cats reintroduced to Scotland.

Those who support the idea include the Mammal Society, which has suggested rogue rewilders could be behind the releases.

The organisation said it would love to see a stable and healthy population of wild lynx thriving in the UK, and that the reintroduction of the species could “redress ecosystem imbalance and restore biodiversity to our depleted landscapes”.

The society said it understood the “frustration” which could lead to illegal releases, but that there were “no shortcuts” to achieving its goal.

“Illegal releases are irresponsible and not the answer,” it said.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority has appealed to the public to stay away from the search area, a landscape of hills and forestry on the edge of some of the highest mountains in the Cairngorms.

Source: www.bbc.com