Zoe, a domestic house cat, has gotten three new kittens to take care of this week. But they're not just any orphaned kittens - they're baby bobcats. Sure, they're small and cute now - about half the size of her other, older babies. But when these little tykes become adults, they'll be twice Zoe's size!
The three bobcat kittens were found this week during the demolition of an abandoned home in Newberry County, South Carolina. The trio were quickly transported to Carolina Wildlife Care in Columbia, S.C., where they were taken in by Zoe, a recent mother cat with plenty of milk to spare.
Bobcats (Lynx rufus) are one of the most widely distributed cats in the world, found throughout North America all the way from Mexico to Canada. They're as at home in the muggy swamps of Florida as they are in the deep woods of Montana. Not only can they live anywhere, they can eat almost anything, and will hunt a wide variety of creatures from rodents to deer. Because of the cat's adaptability, their populations are large and healthy, even though we used to hunt them for their fur.
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Summer before last there was a large male bobcat killing my poultry. It wasn't particularly afraid of me. I had to practically kick it to get it off a grey goose a couple times. It wasn't hesitant about going into a small pond after the goose, either. This bobcat even came in thru a broken window to hunt mice in the sunroom & pantry, which are attached to the house but not structurally part of the house. It scared me one morning when I went out there to turn a fan on and it leaped past me from a pantry shelf.
I would kill to have a bobcat living near me. Even if it meant killing another bobcat (i kid). But somehow I don't see the urbanites in Pittsburgh taking too kindly to a neighborhood bobcat.
I lived in Palestine Tx (thats east Tx) and I've only seen a Bobcat once. They are beautiful amazing creatures. I would love to gave one living close to me now but I live in south Tx and I don't see how one would be able to survive here with all the oil field sites. I hate it that Humans destroy so much wildlife all over the world. It's sad that people don't realise how much we need wildlife and nature.