Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 23 May 2017

Bevy of bobcats: Thriving animals poised as next urban pest

MICHAEL CASEY on their bellies — also are tiful wild turkeys and squir-
Associated Press benefiting from warmer rels.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — As Northeast winters that al- “They are clever animals
someone who has studied low for easier hunting, as and creative animals,” said
bobcats for almost four well as expansion of public Roberts, who has attached
decades, wildlife ecologist lands that increased prey, GPS collars to 60 bobcats
John Litvaitis remembers including white-tailed deer. in the past three years in
many times returning from Bobcat numbers have al- Wisconsin. “We had one
the field without spotting a most tripled nationwide animal in particular in a
single one of these solitary since the 1980s to as many small town that spent all of
and shy creatures that of- as 3.6 million, according to its time in town going from
ten hunt at dusk. a 2010 study in the Journal bird feeder to bird feeder.”
But bobcats are less elusive of Fish and Wildlife Man- Not everyone is rolling out
now as their numbers rise agement, the most recent the welcome mat.
and they become more national survey. In Massachusetts, police
comfortable around hu- “Bobcats have been a real last month said they shot
mans. Joining the likes of success story in wildlife con- and killed a bobcat that
foxes, coyotes and even servation in the past sev- had attacked two large
mountain lions in rare cas- eral decades. They are at dogs and was coming af-
es, bobcats are making a the point now that they are ter officers. Farmers in New
home in small towns and growing or stable across Hampshire have shot bob-
suburbs — and realizing their range,” according to cats. “Many people enjoy
there is plenty to eat in the Nathan Roberts, a wildlife seeing them, but for others
cities. They have turned research scientist at the they are a nuisance,” ac-
up in recent years in such Wisconsin Department of cording to Patrick Tate, a
places as Manchester, Natural Resources who co- wildlife biologist with New
New Hampshire’s largest authored the survey. Hampshire Fish and Game
city; Waverly, Iowa; and In New Hampshire, Litvaitis Department. “Complaints
outside Los Angeles. They said, that is exactly what about bobcats preying on
have been spotted below In this April 16, 2012, file photo, a small, likely juvenile, bobcat has happened. domestic chickens have in-
backyard bird feeders, is perched on a power pole in a residential neighborhood of He estimates bobcat num- creased, requests from the
Victorville, Calif.
waltzing along streets in Associated Press bers dropped to as low as public to trap and relocate
search of their next meal 100 years ago, if not more,” to being considered a top 150 in the late 1980s, which bobcats have risen, and in-
and, increasingly, as road- said Litvaitis, who conduct- predator worthy of protec- prompted the state to ban stances of road-killed bob-
kill. A website that Litvaitis ed much of his research tion. In contrast with the hunting in 1989. Numbers cats have become com-
set up to understand the while at the University of 1970s, when 40 states had have increased ever since. mon throughout the state.”
bobcat rebound in New New Hampshire. “They are no bobcat protections and A University of New Hamp- Many states have consid-
Hampshire features hun- adapting to a landscape bounties were common, shire/New Hampshire Fish ered reintroducing hunting
dreds of amateur photo- that has changed. You most now put strict limits and Game survey estimat- and trapping to help regu-
graphs — of a cat lounging have roads and people ev- on hunting and trapping ed their population in 2013 late growing populations.
on someone’s lawn, an- erywhere, and they have bobcats. As many as eight, at 1,400. The bobcat’s suc- The New Hampshire pro-
other stalking a chipmunk, figured out how to get including New Hampshire, cess also reflects its ability posal to offer 50 permits
a third sitting contentedly along with most of that.” completely outlaw both. to eat almost anything and annually was withdrawn
after gobbling up a guinea The resurgence of Lynx rufus The naturally bobtailed thrive almost anywhere, last year, over concerns
fowl and peacock. comes during a shift over cats — as big as medium- from cornfields to swamps that bobcat traps could
“They are back in New the past several decades sized dogs and known for to suburban parks. With ensnare Canada lynx, con-
England and at least as from treating bobcats as brown or rust-colored fur cottontail rabbits declin- sidered threatened under
abundant as they were vermin to be exterminated with black and white spots ing in New Hampshire, they the Endangered Species
shifted to preying on plen-
Act.q