![]() ![]() Install predator guards on trees in areas where bobcats could use them to gain access to your poultry and other animals. Remove any sick or injured animals immediately. During the birthing season keep young and vulnerable animals secure at all times. Keep livestock and small animals confined in secure pens from dusk to dawn. Keep poultry securely locked up at night. ![]() Be sure to overlap and securely wire seams on top to prevent bobcats from forcing their way in. Enclose outdoor pens with 1 inch chicken wire placed over a sturdy wooden frame. Keep poultry (chickens, turkeys, ducks) in a secure outdoor pen with well fitted doors. The buildup of food will attract small mammals which in turn can attract bobcats. If you have bird feeders in your yard clean up any excess food that falls from the feeders to the ground to prevent it from building up. In areas with high bobcat activity, use the following tactics to deter them from making an impact. However occasionally they are responsible for losses of poultry, lambs, small goats, pigs and house cats. They establish their territories with scent markings.ĭid you know? Bobcats are excellent swimmers and tree climbers.īobcats are not often responsible for killing domestic animals and typically use wild animals as prey items. Females never share their territory with each other but male territories will overlap with several females. During the mating seasons screams and hisses can be heard.īobcats are very territorial. Residents are adults that generally reside in a single home range, transients are yearlings who are dispersing, and kittens are individuals still under maternal care.īobcats rarely vocalize but they can produce loud growls and snarls. There are three social classes of Bobcats residents, transients and kittens. They cache leftover prey, covering it with debris, and will revisit the carcass until most of it is consumed.ĭid you know? In Washington, the majority of a Bobcat’s diet consists of Mountain Beaver.īobcats are solitary except during the breeding season and when females are rearing kittens. They use sight and sound to hunt their prey and catch it by using a combination of stalking and ambushing. The majority of their diet consists of rabbit but they will also feed on deer, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, carrion, insects and eggs. They remain with her, learning how to hunt, until they disperse at eight months.īobcats can live to be 12 years old in the wild.īobcats are carnivorous generalists and their diet varies seasonally. ![]() They emerge from the den when they are just over one month old and start accompanying the female on hunts at three months. Kittens are blind, helpless and weigh roughly half a pound when they are born. On average Bobcats give birth to three kittens typically between April and July, although they can give birth year round. They carefully line the inside of their den with soft debris such as moss, dry leaves and grass formed into a small depression.Ī female will have several den sites while rearing her kittens she constantly moves them to keep them safe from predators.ĭid you know? Male Bobcat home ranges can be as large as 20 square miles. Their adaptability has also allowed them to occupy, and be successful in, suburban settings.įemale Bobcats den in caves, rock piles, hollow trees, brush piles and abandoned beaver lodges. Rocky cliffs and outcroppings are very important for shelter, raising young and resting sites. The back of their ears are black with white patches, their short tail has a black tip, and they have ruffs of hair on the side of their head which look like sideburns.ĭid you know? A Bobcat’s coat is like a fingerprint, it is unique to the individual and can be used to identify them.īobcats have evolved to survive in a variety of habitats including forests, semi-deserts, mountains and bushland. Their coat can be various shades of brown with varying patterns of dark brown spots and stripes. They are a medium sized feline weighing between 10 and 35 pounds, averaging 3 feet in length, have a 5 inch tail, and males are larger than females. Today populations are stable and Bobcats are classified as a species of least concern everywhere except New Jersey and parts of Mexico where they are listed as endangered.ĭid you know? There are seven species of native felines in North America and the Bobcat is the most common.īobcats are elusive, nocturnal, and rarely seen. In the 1970’s international laws were put into place to protect the world’s spotted cats since then Bobcat populations have been rebounding. However, due to agriculture expansion and hunting for their fur, populations declined and became restricted in the Midwest U.S. Historically, Bobcats ( Lynx rufus, named for their short tail) could be found across the 48 contiguous United States, Canada and Mexico. ![]()
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