A local man spotted a lynx in his front yard in north Glenora on Thursday afternoon.

“He was a big cat,” Todd Currie said. “I know cats can leap over fences, and I’ve got little dogs.”

Once Currie put his dogs inside, he walked down the alley and found the lynx in the backyard of a vacant house, where he took some photos.

“He was just trotting really slow,” Currie said. “He was watching me.”

Upon seeing photos of the animal, wildlife expert Dale Gienow told CTV News, “We’re definitely looking at a lynx, absolutely.”

It’s the big paws and ear tufts that make it “unmistakable” for Gienow, a wild rescue manager at WILDNorth

A lynx was spotted multiple times in the same area in 2017. Gienow says there’s no way of knowing if it’s the same animal, though “it very well could be.”

“It would be very rare to see, not unheard of, but very rare to see a lynx within the city limits here in Edmonton. We do get a small number of large carnivores species, like bear, mountain lion and lynx and ever deer that come through. [It’s] rarely seen; they use our river valley as sort of a passage way to get to and fro, and are mostly active at night time, but on occasion we see them during the day.”

Gienow says lynx are fearful of people, but if you encounter one—or any other wild animal—it’s best to slowly back away and make noise.

“Look at it from a distance; don’t try to take picture up close of this guy. We realize it’s a great opportunity for those wildlife photographers out there, but really, we want to make sure a wild animal stays wild.”