A dead wildcat was discovered in Feistritz an der Gail in Carinthia on Thursday. The extremely rare animal was hit first by a car and then by a van, according to a report by ORF Carinthia. A hunter later recovered it from the roadside.

On Friday, the wildcat was brought to Klagenfurt for examinations, ORF reported. A DNA sample will also be taken there. In recent months, there have been repeated sightings of the man-shy animal in the Gaital.

Photographed for the first time in Tyrol

The wildcat was considered extinct for a long time, and was last photographed in East Tyrol. A hunter succeeded in the summer a photo of the animal – according to hunters association “a sensation”, because with the picture it concerns only the second confirmed proof of a wildcat in Tyrol. The STANDARD has also reported.

According to Naturschutzbund, wildcats disappeared from domestic forests in the 1950s. Until the beginning of the 20th century they had been hunted by humans because of their “harmfulness”.