It’s tough being a lynx in Maine these days.

And not just because a few hunters seem to be using them for target practice. Traps and motor vehicles also have taken their toll. And illness and starvation are signs that the population also faces a new natural threat that biologists can’t yet explain.

The latest misfortunate feline was found dead along a road in Aroostook County earlier this week. The 25-pound male was shot through the hind legs by someone with a high-powered rifle.

Lynx are listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, which makes shooting one a federal crime. There are an estimated 200 to 500 of the tufted-eared wildcats in Maine, the only eastern state with a breeding population.

The Maine Warden Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a $2,000 reward this week for information leading to the conviction of the person who fired the rifle. The lucky shot could get someone a $25,000 fine and six months in prison.

Game wardens are convinced the shot was no accident. About the only thing you can confuse with a Canada lynx would be a bobcat, and there isn’t exactly an open season on them, either.

There have been four known cases of lynx being shot and killed in Maine in the past three years.

The cats have been more likely to find their padded feet clenched in spring traps intended for minks, fishers and other furry critters.

Thirty-four lynx have been caught by trappers in Maine since 1999. Two of those animals died from the injuries.

Lynx are expected to get some protection on that front starting this fall. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife agreed last week to ban large foothold traps throughout northern Maine as part of a lawsuit settlement.

The risk of getting run over by a car and truck, on the other hand, is growing as more people move to and vacation in the North Woods. One lynx was struck and killed earlier this month in Palmyra, for example.

In the Moosehead Lake region alone, between one and three lynx are killed by motor vehicles each year, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Development plans in that region could increase the number to between 10 and 17, the agency says.

Dodging bullets, traps, cars and logging trucks may be easy compared with natural threats that seem to be most responsible for a recent downturn in the population.

Lynx have been starving to death, something that was unheard of a few years ago. That hunger seems to be linked to a 50 percent to 75 percent decline in the number of snowshoe hare – the favorite food of lynx – in the past two years. The reason for the hare loss is unclear, but it may be that less snow cover in recent winters has left the rabbits vulnerable to rival predators like owls and coyotes.

Some starved lynx also show signs of stress from a lungworm infection that may have been introduced to the population by domestic cats. It’s hard to know which came first, the hunger or the infections, however.

The lack of hare to hunt may be forcing the wildcats to travel more, something that could, in turn, be leading to more road kills. Whatever the reason, if you see a lynx in the road, or in the crosshairs, give it a break.

It’s a jungle out there.

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