Saturday, September 27, 2014
With hunters and homeowners noticing what they perceive to be an increase in Bobcat sightings, the Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection is looking to conduct field studies sometime next year to get a more scientific read on the "Bobs"................DEEP’s Wildlife Division currently averages more than 200 bobcat reports per year across the state compared to 65 such calls 20 years ago, 75 calls annually during the 90's and 115 at the turn of the century.............According to Peter Reid, the assistant director at WILDLIFE IN CRISIS in Weston, one likely reason for the apparent population increase is that bobcats have been moving their dens closer to humans to avoid contact with Coyotes, which are known to displace Bobcats to the fringes of Coyote territory....However, if this is occurring, then Connecticut Bobcats are indeed showing themselves to be adaptive as historically they shunned in-close living to humans.................."Close-in" denning in human dominated neighborhoods is very much practiced by foxes, who also are sympatric with Coyotes and who definitely make their optimum living on the perimeters of Coyote territory....................As it relates back to how man and Bobcats have historically co-existed in Connecticut,. it is a fact that they were not protected and were viewed as a threat to agriculture and more desirable game species, such as deer............ In addition, the dramatic deforestation that peaked in the 1800's greatly reduced the habitat available to bobcats................... While Bobcats do not prefer mature forest, they do flourish in areas with thick horizontal and vertical understory vegetation................... In the 1970's, a large increase in the value of bobcat pelts raised concerns that they could be extirpated from the state.......... At that time, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection reclassified the bobcat as a protected furbearer with no hunting or trapping seasons.............Even with this type protection, , housing and commercial development decreased the amount of suitable habitat confining the remnant Bobcat population to the northwestern corner of the state..................If the Bobs are indeed making a comeback, it is good to see that state Environmental Officials are stating that "Bobcats are a part of our ecosystem" and therefore a live and let live management model is what is going to be practiced......... “Our yards are part of their habitat and it’s important for people to understand that they’re here and they’re not dangerous"
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