New Year's Eve celebrations often involve seeing friends and family imbibing, waiters passing around banquet trays, or performers making their way through the aisles of a venue. But for an officer of the Ontario Provincial Police, they got to celebrate with a viewing of one of Canada's most elusive species.

"On December 31, PC Stubbington from #ArmstrongOPP spotted something truly special while on patrol - a family of five Canada lynx: two adults and three kittens. Encounters like this are a reminder of how incredible our northern wildlife really is, and how much happens in the forests around us that we rarely get to see. A perfect final highlight for the year," the Ontario Provincial Police Northwest Region posted to its Facebook account, and CP24 reported.

This sighting is a rare treat as lynx are normally solitary creatures that prowl very silently for their prey, according to Parks Canada. The rare exceptions to their solitary existence are during mating season, when they travel in pairs, or when kittens follow their mother for the first year.

Lynx mostly feed on snowshoe hare, which means that both populations often rise and fall in tandem. Fortunately for lynx, they can also stray from this close dependence and prey on fowl, small mammals, and even moose. Lynx also have the ability to travel long distances when food is scarce.

Currently, the lynx population numbers in Ontario are unknown, which makes them difficult to study and protect. Wildlife cameras would be a great benefit for this species, as they could help gauge population health, their chosen prey, and their migration patterns. Other wildlife cameras around the world have helped conservationists study bitterns in the UK, tapirs near Singapore, and ocelots in Arizona.

The OPP were quite excited about the sighting.

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"What a way to end 2025!" they wrote on Facebook.

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