Skip to content

VIRAL VIDEO: Dryden man "overwhelmed" by response to lynx encounter

Animals "yelled" at each other in rarely-seen contest
Ed Trist tbt
Ed Trist lives east of Dryden (TBT News)

DRYDEN, Ont. —  When Ed Trist posted video of two squabbling lynx he had no idea what he was getting into. 

The Dryden-area man, his girlfriend and daughter witnessed the confrontation Friday evening from their ATV on a bush road road near Avery Lake, about 30 minutes east of town.

"We had just checked minnow traps and were pulling out onto a logging road when we saw two lynx. As we came up to them they didn't really move, which is really odd because they're usually very skittish. When you see them you usually see the back end of them running," Trist told Tbnewswatch in an interview.

The lynx headbutted and wailed at each other for ten minutes straight, but never got into an actual brawl.

Seeing that the animals were too preoccupied with each other to worry about the presence of humans, Trist turned off the ATV and began recording.

Trist and his two companions watched in fascination before deciding to leave the animals alone.

"I knew it was going to be a pretty special thing, so I uploaded it to Facebook to show my friends right away. But then after the first hour, it went to a thousand and then ten thousand and then a million. Between the two of us now (Trist and his girlfriend's Facebook page) we're over 12 million views."

He said he's receiving phone calls requesting interviews from the BBC and from news organizations as far away as Australia.

"It's just one news company after another right now. I'm so overwhelmed," he said.

Trist said he suspects the animals were competing for the attentions of a mate.

"I'm not a biologist but I'm assuming they were both males and there was a female probably in the bush somewhere, and they were trying to see who was the dominant male. They don't usually scrap but they will 'yell' at each other."

He said the response to the video has been 90 per cent positive, but some people have posted comments questioning its authenticity and suggesting the wailing of the animals was dubbed audio.

"I can tell you that was 100 per cent real," Trist said, adding that he is aware that biologists who have seen the video are saying "that's totally authentic."  

Although the interview requests are consuming a lot of his time, he said he's glad he decided to post the video. "It's so rare that people get to see this. That's the positive thing that's come out of it."

Trist has camped or resided in the Avery Lake area for 20 years.



Gary Rinne

About the Author: Gary Rinne

Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Gary started part-time at Tbnewswatch in 2016 after retiring from the CBC
Read more


Comments

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks