Latest news with #bobcat
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Bobcat injures Calgary woman in 'extremely unusual' encounter.
Bobcats typically don't weigh more than 35 pounds, yet a recent incident in Calgary has left some wondering whether these small predators could pose a threat to humans. An adult bobcat "made contact" with a woman, leaving her with minor injuries including scratches, in the southeast Calgary community of Parkland shortly after 10 a.m. on Monday, according to a statement from Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services. As the bobcat was accompanied by kittens, Fish and Wildlife determined that the mother had "appeared to act defensively." The victim of the incident was unavailable for an interview with CBC News, but neighbour Mike Melanson provided an eyewitness account of what he saw. "[The bobcat] went right after that woman like you wouldn't believe," he said. "[It] jumped, [it] knocked her right to the ground, and she was down." Melanson told CBC News he had startled the cat by his door when he saw it walking across his front lawn, causing it to bolt in the victim's direction. "There was a couple standing in the alley … and they were watching their dog. So the bobcat ran right toward that couple, attacked the woman … she was facing the other way. The bobcat hit her from behind." He said he had not seen the kittens nearby when the incident occurred. According to Melanson, the bobcat is a frequent sight in the neighbourhood, but this was the first time he had heard of it harming someone. "You don't see too many rabbits around our area anymore," he said. "There used to be lots of them." Melanson has three cats, and while he isn't aware of the bobcat killing anyone's pets either, the recent incident with his neighbour has left him concerned about the animal's presence. Fish and Wildlife did not confirm to CBC News whether they had located the bobcat, but stated that "as this appears to have been an isolated, chance encounter, there is no imminent risk to public safety, and no further action is planned at this time." But not everybody agrees with that assessment. "I wish they'd remove the bobcat from the area," Melanson said. "I mean, anybody that would attack a human is a dangerous thing to have around." "Bobcats are naturally shy of humans and extremely unlikely to attack people unless they are provoked, feel threatened or are defending their kittens," according to Fish and Wildlife. Isolated cases of unprovoked bobcat attacks on humans have been reported in North America, but the odds of that happening remain incredibly low. "This is an extremely unusual incident," said Scottie Potter, communications co-ordinator with the Alberta Institute for Wildlife who has a background in wildlife education and outreach, said bobcats typically do not pose a threat to humans. "The best guess that we have at the moment is this bobcat was feeling defensive about her kittens, but even that is pretty extreme behaviour," she said. Considering Melanson's statement indicating that the bobcat had been startled, Potter said the animal's "irregular" behaviour might not necessarily have been an attack. "It sounds like a one-in-a-million sort of encounter where an animal panics, is my first thought there," she said. "This bobcat, because they were so frightened, really wasn't maybe even intending to attack, and might have just been trying to get the person to move out of their way." A bobcat would pose a greater threat to small pets, but even then the odds of an attack happening are relatively low. "I wouldn't necessarily call [attacks on cats and dogs] common," Potter said. "Considering the number of bobcats in Calgary, the number of attacks on pets is quite low." With that in mind, it's important to take proper precautions to prevent small pets from being snatched. "Bobcats can move very quickly from yard to yard if they need to. They are incredible athletes, so you never know when a bobcat might stop by," Potter said. "If you know that there's a bobcat in your area, it's best to keep your small pets either on-leash or inside." In April, Ashley Delaney was crushed to find that her pet cat Bonnie had gone missing in the northeast Calgary community of Scenic Acres. A neighbour who witnessed what happened told her a bobcat had ambushed Bonnie in broad daylight. "I guess the bobcat chased her under the truck and picked her up," Delaney told CBC News. Delaney was mindful of bobcats in the neighbourhood and made sure to keep her cat safe, but Bonnie had slipped outside unnoticed during construction at the house when the incident happened. "When I got home, the bobcat was under the neighbour's deck with my cat." Delaney said her cat had not been eaten by the predator. "It didn't eat her or anything," she said. "Just killed her." As they are in Parkland, bobcats are regularly seen in Scenic Acres, with Delaney saying she had been seeing what were likely the same one or two animals around for at least five years. She said small pets had been known to disappear in the neighbourhood. Sara Jordan-McLachlan, a wildlife biologist who has studied bobcats extensively, said public perception of the animals can be mixed. "There's some who are understandably concerned about themselves, their own safety and their pet's safety," she said. "And then there are others who are on the side that we are sharing the space with them and it's our job to be aware of our surroundings and be careful about interfering with them as much as we can." She said that the best course of action to avoid negative encounters with bobcats is to avoid areas frequented by a mother and her kittens, but acknowledged that isn't always easy to do when the bobcat lives in a residential area. "Personally, I think it is still safe for us to share that space if we take those precautions of being aware, where that cat and her kittens are, and doing our best to avoid that area, especially if we have dogs," she said. Jordan-McLachlan said that as bobcat populations in the city increase, being mindful of their presence is important. "We're seeing them breeding in new neighbourhoods. They're feeling comfortable in these areas and safe, with enough prey in order to have these families in the city, so they're finding ideal habitat to expand their population," she said. Parkland resident Denise Hans, whose property is frequently visited by the bobcat and her kittens, said she had personally never felt threatened by the predator's presence, but said that it may be seen as a problematic animal to have around. "We do not want to hear that anybody's stressed out trying to walk their pet," she said. Hans believes the City of Calgary should invest more in wildlife management in communities like Parkland, which borders Fish Creek Provincial Park. "There's so many other neighbourhoods that [are experiencing wildlife encounters]," she said. "They need more resources. They need to educate the people." Hans saw the bobcat again Monday night, after Fish and Wildlife officers had spent hours around her property attempting to capture it, she said. "Unfortunately, she kind of outwitted us all," she said. "She was so sneaky."
CTV News
3 days ago
- CTV News
‘Very, very scary': Calgary woman attacked by bobcat in southeast
A Calgary woman was sent to hospital Monday morning after a bobcat ran at her and attacked while she was walking her dog in front of her home in the southeast. A Calgary woman was sent to hospital Monday morning after a bobcat ran at her and attacked while she was walking her dog in front of her home in the southeast. It happened shortly after 10 a.m. in the community of Parkland. 'As soon as I opened the door, (the bobcat) ran toward the alley and it attacked the woman,' said neighbour Mike Melanson, who witnessed the incident after he first noticed the bobcat sitting on the grass in his front yard. 'She went down and she was screaming. I could hear her screaming. I saw the attack. 'It jumped right on her.' Calgary police and paramedics were called, and the woman was taken to hospital for minor cuts and scratches, EMS say. Fish and Wildlife officers spent hours in the area setting up cages and traps but left early in the afternoon without capturing the bobcats. Fish and Wildlife returned to Parkland Monday evening. Neighbours say the bobcat has been in the area for months and had a litter of four kittens living under a deck for the past five weeks. As of late Monday afternoon, the bobcat could still regularly be seen on the street, searching for food and going into different yards near where the attack occurred. A Calgary woman was sent to hospital Monday morning after a bobcat ran at her and attacked while she was walking her dog in front of her home in the southeast. A Calgary woman was sent to hospital Monday morning after a bobcat ran at her and attacked while she was walking her dog in front of her home in the southeast. 'Very, very unusual. In my years in the city of Calgary, the only time we've had bobcats contact humans has been when they feel cornered or threatened,' said Acting Staff Sgt. Lorne Rinkel with Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services in Calgary. An investigation is still underway, and Rinkel said wildlife officers could still return to the area after speaking to more witnesses and the victim. 'When a human is contacted by wildlife, especially what we call dangerous wildlife, we have to balance out our course of action. So do we want to euthanize or live trap or just leave things as they are?' Rinkel said. 'So in this case, the mother's left the scene with one kitten, and there's still two under the deck. And I'm very confident that the mother will return shortly to pick up the remaining.' A Calgary woman was sent to hospital Monday morning after a bobcat ran at her and attacked while she was walking her dog in front of her home in the southeast. A Calgary woman was sent to hospital Monday morning after a bobcat ran at her and attacked while she was walking her dog in front of her home in the southeast. Neighbours say they phoned the city's 311 service and were referred to Fish and Wildlife after raising concerns about the bobcat around pets and young children. 'We were told you have to cohabitate, unless the humans are involved, which happened today, I guess,' said Monty Hans, whose backyard deck the bobcats have been living under for months. 'The (mother bobcat) has been hunting by herself. And then the kittens stay under the deck and she comes back with something, drags it under the deck. We have made noise and kind of banged around and tried to get them to leave, but they're not going, and it just wasn't going anywhere. She wasn't afraid of us." But some of the people who live in the area are not satisfied with the response from wildlife officials, especially now that a human has been injured. Some neighbours bought horns and bells on Monday to try to deter the bobcats from coming back. 'But since we knew that it had a big litter, we are all taking precautions … putting extra lighting in the yard, cleaning up after our dogs right away, keeping them leashed, not letting pets by themselves in the backyard,' said Desiree Prosser, who lives across the alley from where the bobcats have been living. 'And it's tough. It's not easy because it's so unexpected and they're so unpredictable. 'It's very, very scary. Like, could it be me? I was going to walk my dog 15 minutes earlier, and I didn't, and that's when it all happened.'
The Independent
03-06-2025
- General
- The Independent
‘You guys are hilarious' Homeowner unimpressed with cop's attempt to get bobcat out of her house with laser pointer
Showing now | News 00:25 Zack Palomo A Colorado homeowner was left unimpressed by police efforts to get a bobcat out of her house. The wild animal wandered into a home in Ken Caryl and settled behind the owner's TV on May 22. Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies tried to lure the bobcat out by shining lasers from their tasers in front of it. The bobcat doesn't appear to react to the bait. 'I don't know, cats like lasers,' one deputy can be heard saying in the bodycam footage. 'It's not a normal cat,' another deputy responds. 'You guys are hilarious,' the homeowner tells the officers. According to the sheriff's office, the bobcat eventually left of its own accord through the back door.
CBS News
29-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Bobcat hangs out in Colorado home, not impressed with capture efforts
Bobcat hides out in Colorado house, shows distain for those trying to attempt capture Bobcat hides out in Colorado house, shows distain for those trying to attempt capture Bobcat hides out in Colorado house, shows distain for those trying to attempt capture A bobcat was found inside a home in Ken Caryl, Colorado and wasn't in a big hurry to leave. The wild cat was found cozied up behind a TV and that's when Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies had an idea. A bobcat was found inside a home in Ken Caryl. Jefferson County They thought it would be a good idea to use a TASER's green laser to coax out the cat. The bobcat had other plans, showed no interest in playing with the deputies and left on its own... right out the open back door. Unimpressed Bobcat Ignores Lasers, Strolls Out of Ken Caryl Home on Its Own Terms Cats and dogs chase laser pointers, but this bobcat was not impressed. When it wandered into a Ken Caryl home and cozied up behind the TV, our deputies thought outside the box—trying their TASER's… — Jeffco Sheriff (@jeffcosheriffco) May 28, 2025
CTV News
27-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Orphaned bobcat ‘sisters' rescued in Mission, B.C., released back into the wild
Two rescued bobcat 'sisters' have been released back into the wild. Two orphaned bobcat kittens are enjoying their first taste of freedom after being released back into the wild, seven months after they were first rescued in Mission, B.C. In a social media post announcing the release on Monday, the Critter Care Wildlife Society said the farewell to the two female big cats, named Teetonka and Kaya, was 'bittersweet' for staff after a cold season of bonding. 'Their first winter was full of discovery,' the post said. 'They experienced snow for the first time, hesitantly at first, but soon they were lounging in flurries without a care.' Over the course of the seven months the kittens were given all the care and training needed to ensure they could be safely and successfully reintegrated into the wild, including a carefully managed diet that would encourage them to hunt and forage as they typically would in their natural habitat. Christmas trees generously donated to the centre had become 'perfect hiding spots' for the young hunters, helping them practice their 'stealth and stalking skills,' the post said. 'Rescued as tiny, vulnerable kittens, they grew strong and confident under our care, developing the instincts they need to thrive,' said the society. 'From playful chases to sibling tussles, they spent their days exploring and honing their natural behaviours.' The two kittens were dubbed 'sisters' after they were found just a half-an-hour distance from each other on the same day in October. Announcing their rescue at the time, Critter Care said it was highly unlikely that they were actually from the same litter, but had become as inseparable as 'real sisters' after their rare joint rescue. One kitten was found in a barn weighing just four pounds, while the other was rescued from the side of the road weighing less than two pounds, the rescue agency said. 'Watching them grow and develop their wild instincts has been an incredible journey for our team,' the post read. 'We are proud to have given them the best possible start, and we look forward to hearing about their adventures in the wild.'
