Strange lynx behavior?

[PALU]

My current character as now encountered two lynxes at the homestead that were breathless. In the first case I think my character returned from the overland map to find a lynx breathless outside the "stable" (a windowless building with a door, inside which the sheep was hosted), and in the latest one a lynx was running around the homestead causing interrupts when seen or when the dog barked in alarm while my character was engaged in a 5 hour or so activity. When done my character got some well deserved food, only to get that task interrupted by the appearance of a breathless lynx outside the stable (now containing a cow of burden as well).

Do predators sense the animals inside the stable, and thus get worked up trying to get at the prey in frustration?
The bear that "visited" not long ago did not seem overly interested in the stable, but it might be that it hadn't come close enough to it yet when my character engaged in the smart tactic to go inside the main building, close the door, and shoot at the bear through the window slit. I then found out bears can open doors...
Fortunately, the arrow injury was apparently sufficient to allow my character and dog to kill the bear without any injuries (apart from to the bear, of course).

I haven't had any wolves visit this character's homestead (fortunately, they're even scarier than bears), so I can't say anything about their behavior.

[mlangsdorf]

I think on 3.4 and later that hostile animals that are near you spend a lot of their time running, and eventually get breathless and even more eventually die.

I've had some success with untrapping elk inside a fence a few tiles from my house, but even when I release an elk from a pit trap on my home tile, they're inevitably dead by morning, even if the original injury wasn't too bad. I think they just run themselves to death in the background. Sounds like the same thing happened to your lynxes.

[Bedlam]

The lynxes are definitely trying to get to your animals, but the dog's probably scaring them away so they run. The cycle probably repeated a few times over while you worked.

Bears won't go after the cows unless they're extremely hungry, but the lynxes definitely will try their best.