Small Cats, Big Cats, Oh My!

The following article appeared in the September 16, 2009 issue of the Fairfield Glade newspaper.

Enjoying Nature


Don Hazel Small Cats, Big Cats, Oh My!

Wow! A month ago I wrote an article about spotting a bobcat in Fairfield Glade near my house. The reaction has been wilder than the bobcat. So, in order to put a few questions to rest, I decided to give you an update on the bobcat and also clear up some crazy stories that are floating around about the bobcat’s bigger cousins, mountain lions.

I wrote the article about the bobcat on a Thursday morning. That same afternoon, my neighbor Gloria called to say the bobcat was in her backyard resting under a tree.

Sure enough, there he was sleeping, stretching, and just hanging out down in the woods. He was in Gloria’s yard again last week, resting in the shrubbery twenty feet from a birdfeeder with squirrels and doves on the ground, feeding. We think he was waiting for a meal to move just a little closer.

However, a squirrel spotted the bobcat and sounded the alarm once he was safe thirty feet up a tree. I am sure the squirrel must have wet his pants when he first saw the bobcat crouched 15 feet away. After about ten minutes of squirrel harassment the bobcat got up, stretched, and slowly walked down the path and into the woods. He was big and definitely a male.

Some other neighbors have spotted a female bobcat with a bobcat kitten.

I was telling my daughter about the bobcat and she asked why he was hanging around houses if they are supposed to be so secretive and so rarely seen. But think about it; where are the rabbits that eat your flowers, or the groundhogs that eat your beans, or the squirrels that eat your birdseed? They are in your backyard. That is why the bobcat is there, right next to the buffet line.

Several people have emailed me asking about the safety of their little dogs or cats or even themselves. I have searched the internet and news articles and have found only one case where a bobcat supposedly attacked a dog (a Chihuahua) in Texas. Night roaming feral cats or house cats may be a little higher up on the menu, but let me ask you…have you ever heard or read of a bobcat attacking a dog or a cat?...me neither…and yet bobcats have been living near us for hundreds of years.

I called a wildlife officer at TWRA and he wasn’t aware of any problems either. I believe that the odds are very small that a bobcat will eat your dog. Your dog has a much better chance of being devoured by a Pontiac.

Mountain Lions! Now there are a couple of words that will get people’s attention. You may have seen one of the emails circulating recently saying a mountain lion was caught on a surveillance camera photo near Fairfield Glade with a deer in its grasp. This is 100% not true. If you do a search on the internet, you will see the exact same photo identified as being from Oklahoma, or Wisconsin, or Knoxville. There was a good article in the Knoxville paper on Sunday September 6 about this same subject.

Last January I attended a presentation by a representative of the Eastern Cougar Foundation (ECF). The speaker said that the ECF has been searching since 1998 to find evidence of mountain lions living east of the Mississippi River (other than Florida Panthers in the Everglades). Their evidence to date….zero! Yes, over the years one or two mountain lions have been shot east of the Mississippi, but in every case they were proven by their ear tattoos or South American DNA to be captive animals that were released or escaped.

After the hour long presentation a woman raised her hand and said, “I don’t care what scientific evidence says, everyone knows they’re here”. I raised my hand and asked the ECF speaker, “As I understand it, you have been searching for 10 years for tracks, scat, hair, deer kills, valid photographs, etc. and to date your finding for mountain lions in the east is zero, is that correct?”. He said “yes”. I looked over at the woman and she was still shaking her head. I offered to trade my photo of Bigfoot for her photo of a mountain lion. She declined.

So in summary, bobcats are here and always have been. Even though they could, they are very unlikely to cause any trouble for you or your pet. Mountain lions are not here.

If you are looking for mammals that can hurt you, go to a big city…they are called humans. Believe me; you are safer in the woods. So relax, enjoy the beautiful outdoors. Take a camera and a bottle of water. That is all you’ll need to survive a walk in the woods.

Comments, questions or suggestions for future nature articles are welcome at don.hazel@gmail.com