Bobcat: Wary and looking for dinner. The fur is wonderful camouflage, especially in the fall.
The number of bobcats, those beautiful, solitary and shy predators, has been increasing in recent years as they’ve been given more protection, as once-open fields have gone back to woods and as they, like such other rapidly expanding and intelligent predators as coyotes, learn how to prosper close to people.
“They are back in New England and at least as abundant as they were 100 years ago, if not more,” wildlife ecologist John Litvaitis told the Associated Press. “They are adapting to a landscape that has changed.”
While these cats used to be hunted down with great enthusiasm, now most states protect them to varying degrees.
The Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management, in the most recent national survey of bobcat numbers – back in 2010 -- reported that their numbers have almost tripled nationwide since the 1980s, to as many as 3.6 million.
Bobcats eat a lot of squirrels and rabbits, which we have in vast numbers. But they might eat your cat or small dog, too. Another reason not to let your pets roam free. And reminder: Your cat and your dog are also flesh-loving predators, too, however cute they may look. Indeed, house cats have devastated the population of many bird species.
