VASSALBORO – The state added seven game wardens to its ranks at a graduation ceremony at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy Friday. The game wardens will fill seven vacant districts across the state.

The newest Maine game wardens, and the district they are assigned to are: Warden Mike Boyer, Jackman; Warden Robert Johansen, Big Ten Township; Warden Jeremy Judd, Gray; Warden John Lonegan, Eagle Lake; Warden Richard Ouellette, Monticello; Warden Michael Pierre, Madawaska; and Warden Raymond Miller, Masardis.

The graduation marks the culmination of 28 weeks of training for the game wardens that included an 18-week law enforcement program followed by a 10-week advance warden service academy training.

This 28-week training for game wardens is a requirement of the Maine Warden Service.

Three lynx kittens added to park

Three lynx kittens, each three months old, recently arrived at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, and are now available for the public to view.

The domestic lynx kittens, two males and one female, were born earlier this summer in captivity in New Hampshire at the Charmingfare Farm. The kittens and their parents were born and bred in captivity and would not be able to survive in the wild, so the Maine Wildlife Park will now be their permanent home.

The lynx is listed as a threatened species in the lower 48 states under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The lynx kittens will join the bobcat and mountain lions as representatives of Maine’s current and former native species. Mountain lions are fully protected, and are federally listed as an endangered species. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife receives sighting reports of mountain lions regularly, yet there has been no actual documentation of their presence in Maine.

Bobcats are found statewide, with a regular hunting and trapping season. Visitors to the park can note the examples of physical adaptations between the similar species. The park also has a program called Maine’s Big Cats which is done three times weekly, as well as for school children during spring and fall wildlife programs for visiting schools.

DIF&W, in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, began studying lynx in the Allagash region of northern Maine in 1999 to learn more about their status. Biologists verified the existence of a resident population of lynx in Maine in the first year of the study when they documented a den with two kittens.

Since March 1999, biologists have captured and marked 93 lynx, including 32 radio-collared adult and sub-adults, and 61 kittens.

The park is open from April 19 through Nov. 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. Visitors are allowed to remain in the park until 6 p.m. Admission is $4.50 for adults, $3 ages 5-12, and children 4 and under are free. There are special prices for groups of 15 and more, and ages 60 and over pay $3.50 for admission.