Nick Valent who heads up Bobcat research for the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection thinks that there might be a recovering population of about 100 Bobcats in the Garden State............Still endangered, the current population has grown from the 24 "Bobs" that were captured in Maine during the 1978-82 period and released into the Northern sectors of Jersey.............

Bobcat rehabilitated then released in West Milford, NJ

BY MATT FAGAN

northjersey.com

Valentina, a bobcat hit by a vehicle and knocked silly shortly before Valentine's Day of this year, was released recently by her angels of mercy, Woodlands Wildlife Refuge, after a lengthy convalescence.

Dr. Keith Ross from the Animal Hospital of Clinton-Perryville stitching up Valentina after X-rays and exams showed a badly injured leg.

Valentina, a bobcat that was treated by the Woodlands Wildlife Refuge in Alexandria Township, was recently released in West Milford after her recovery was completed. Here she's shown in the enclosure at the refuge. The stricken feline wound up in Woodlands' care on Feb. 8, after a local tree cutter, Wayne W. Wyatt, pulled his truck over when he saw a struck animal lying alongside Union Valley Road in West Milford.

"I thought it couldn't be a raccoon," Wyatt said. On closer examination, he said he realized that it was a bobcat."Its back legs were stiff," Wyatt said, adding that as he examined the cat, "It opened its eyes."Concerned for the cat's safety, he tried to lift it out of the road, to which the cat took objection. Wyatt contacted West Milford Animal Control and West Milford Animal Control Officer Bev Lujbli in turn called Woodlands in Alexandria Township for its expertise.

The animal, Woodlands Executive Director Tracy Leaver said, wasn't in great shape. From X-rays and observations, she said they could tell the animal had been severely hurt."She was hit by a car and had a really bad concussion and a bad laceration that took some serious stitching," Leaver said."She was barely conscious and not able to walk."Valentina was given a chance to recover at the refuge until she was healthy enough to be released. That happened April 9."Her vision took a while to come back," Leaver said.

When they released Valentina, they made sure it was as close as possible to where she was found. Leaver noted that because of the limited amount of habitat and the competition for suitable living space among female bobcats, this is especially important.Nick Valent, who studies and keeps tabs on bobcat numbers for the state Department of Environmental Protection, noted that returning a female bobcat to the wild is important in maintaining the species' numbers. In New Jersey bobcats are on the endangered list. He said the state is still trying to get a handle on the population figures.
He said by using a dog that can detect bobcat scat, which allows it to be collected and analyzed, they are getting a sense of the population."We're working on that," Valent said. "There's a crude estimate (about 100) I don't have a lot of faith in."

Valent added that evidence shows that bobcats, like black bears, are primarily found north of Interstate 80 and west of Interstate 287."(In New Jersey) they are still endangered," Valent said. "That's why we make an effort to save them."

Fans of bobcats can view Valentina's release on YouTube by searching for "Endangered bobcat release in New Jersey." Lujbli, who was on hand for the release (and in the video), said Valentina took a few moments to realize she was free to go, but after a bit of prodding, ran off.
The mission of Woodlands Wildlife Refuge is the care and release of orphaned and injured native wildlife back to their natural habitats. It also provides educational programs about New Jersey's wildlife
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In northern New Jersey, typical bobcat habitat consists of large areas of

contiguous forest and fragmented forests interspersed with agricultural areas or early

succession vegetation. Bobcats often use areas with rock outcrops, caves, and ledges that

provide shelter and cover for hunting, resting and rearing young. Where rocky areas are

not available, swamps, bogs, conifer stands and rhododendron and mountain laurel

thickets provide good cover and excellent hunting grounds (New Jersey Division of Fish,

Game and Wildlife 1995). In southern New Jersey, dense thickets of briars and conifers

serve as resting and escape cover (New Jersey Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife

1995). Clearly, bobcats are extremely versatile creatures that have the ability to adapt to a

wide variety of habitat types and prey species.

Status and Conservation

The bobcat has been extirpated from much of the Midwest due to habitat changes

resulting from modern agricultural practices. It is considered endangered in Iowa, Indiana

and Ohio. However, Illinois removed the bobcat from its threatened list in 1999 and

Pennsylvania, which had permitted no legal hunting between 1970 and 1999, reinstituted

a limited hunting and trapping season beginning in 2000.

In New Jersey, the bobcat population experienced severe declines near the turn of

the 19th

century as most forests were cleared for lumber, fuel, charcoal and agricultural

use. As the remaining habitat became highly fragmented, bobcat numbers plummeted.

During the 1950s and 1960s, reports of bobcat sightings and killings persisted, but by the

early 1970s it was thought that the feline had been extirpated from the Garden State. The

bobcat gained full legal protection under New Jersey regulations in 1972 when it was

classified as a game species with a closed season (Lund 1979).

In 1977, the New Jersey Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife initiated a project to

restore the species to suitable habitat within the state. Between 1978 and 1982, 24

bobcats were captured in Maine and released in northern New Jersey (James Sciascia,

pers. comm. 1997). In the years that followed, reports of bobcat sightings increased,

suggesting that the project had been a success. In 1991 the status of the bobcat was

changed again to endangered under New Jersey's Endangered and Nongame Species

Conservation Act.

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame

Species Program (ENSP) conducted a scent post survey in 1995 and confirmed bobcat

presence in Sussex, Warren, Morris, and Passaic counties. In addition, reliable bobcat

sightings have been reported from Mercer, Somerset, Bergen, Burlington, Ocean,

Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem counties (Sciascia, pers. comm. 1997).

In 1996, the ENSP began a pilot project using radio telemetry to monitor the

movements of bobcats in northern New Jersey. The objective was to determine the

bobcats’ home range and habitat preferences in that part of the state. The work is

continuing, although technological advances now allow biologists to fit bobcats with

satellite transmitters. Bobcat locations can now be monitored on a continual basis using

satellites.