Fredericton lynx examined at Atlantic Wildlife Institute

A Canadian lynx that was captured after a short chase through downtown Fredericton on April 16 is atthe Atlantic Wildlife Institute for an assessment before it's released back into the wild.

"He's looking pretty good," said Pam Novak of the institute in Cookville,near Sackville, N.B. "We'll probably be making arrangements soon to get him back to DNR where they can get him out pretty quickly, so hopefully it's all going to end well."

Novak says they looked at why the seclusive lynx was in downtown Fredericton and why it was easily caught.

"It's an older cat," she said. "It probably just wandered down into that core for whatever reasons."

The institute still isn't sure what that reason might be, as an older cat is less likely to be looking for new territory. They are trying to give the lynx its space so it can recover from the excitement of the weekend.

"I'm sure it was quite the ordeal that he went through over the weekend, so we're kind of just giving him the time that he needs to make sure that he has recovered from that ordeal, that he is doing well, and that there isn't any issues that we've missed along the way," said Novak.

The province lists the lynx as endangered, which means they really want to make sure the animal is okay before they release out into the wild..

"When you have an animal listed as endangered they do get that protection in terms of that every animal does count," said Novak.

"That's why the extra precautions are just being taken to make sure that everything is healthy with this guy, that we can get him back out and get him to where he belongs in the environment to keep functioning because they do matter out there."

The Department of Natural Resources will make itsdecision on when and where torelease the lynx based onthe information receivedfrom the Atlantic Wildlife Institute.

"I know they want to get the lynx out as soon as possible which we are in agreement to. We're talking days instead of weeks at this point for sure," said Novak.