SEBOOMOOK LAKE (AP) — State and federal officials say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is granting a permit to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for the incidental capture of Canada lynx associated with state-regulated trapping programs.

The permit makes Maine the first state to have an incidental capture plan for Canada lynx. The animal is threatened in the United States. A spokesman for the Maine wildlife department says the state’s plan outlines “minimization measures” including using certain trap sets and increasing outreach to trappers.

The spokesman says the incidental capture of lynx will be offset by providing the animals habitat in a 22,046-acre management area in northern Maine. The area is in the state’s Bureau of Parks and Lands’ Seboomook Unit.

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