Bobcat sightings, public interactions on rise in Boulder County, across state
Colorado is reportedly seeing an increase in bobcat sightings and interactions between the cats and humans, according to Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, a Boulder County nonprofit that treats injured, orphaned and sick wildlife.
Mysti Tatro, community relations coordinator for Greenwood, said there are many factors contributing to the increase in bobcat interactions, including the reduction of their habitat.
“Their habitat range is, overall, decreasing, whether that be due to wildfires or urban sprawl,” Tatro said. “There’s lots of things that are impacting that, but I think mostly the reduction of their habitat range is what’s bringing them closer in.”
Sam Peterson, Colorado Parks and Wildlife district manager for Boulder South, said bobcats are elusive by nature. Bobcats typically hang out along riparian corridors, especially in Boulder, where there is plenty of food and thick foliage.
“They’re going to concentrate on where those prey species are most abundant, and that’s usually going to be in riparian corridors,” Peterson said, “So if folks live adjacent to those areas, they should keep an extra eye out.”
Boulder resident James Legendre recently saw a bobcat in his backyard near CU South. Legendre said he and the cat were about 15 to 20 feet apart and had a staring contest for about 10 to 15 seconds before the bobcat took off behind some trees. Legendre and his neighbor were unable to find the bobcat after it ran away.
Tatro said she wants to remind people that seeing bobcats is a special experience and that the animals have rarely attacked humans.
“We shouldn’t really be afraid of them,” she said, “but if you do experience one that’s being aggressive or coming a little too close to you and your pets, that’s when you can do the things like clapping loudly, making yourself look really big and trying to scare them away.”
Peterson said the best thing people can do to keep themselves and their pets safe outside is to be aware of their surroundings by having their head on a swivel and by using a single earbud to listen to music or phone calls while outside. To prevent issues at home, people should trim thick foliage in their yards and limit bobcats’ access to areas under decks and in window wells.
But it’s not always a bad thing to have bobcats nearby. Tatro said they are important to the environment because they help prey on animals that eat plants, such as white-tailed deer and the eastern cottontails. Having predatory animals like bobcats will help keep the population at a reasonable number and will help those areas’ ecosystems flourish by balancing them.
Peterson said that in addition to noticing more bobcat interactions this year, many people also think there have been more sightings with other species as well, such as bears and mountain lions.
“We’ve kind of attributed that, in a large way, to the advent of a lot of people having Ring door alarms and security cameras outside that are so accessible on their phone,” Peterson said. “A lot of what we’re seeing is animals that have always been there have just gone undetected before but are now easier to find and see because we have all these cameras around, which is awesome.”
Tatro said she thinks there has been an increase in interaction from other species based on the increase in calls Greenwood receives and the rise in the number of animals treated each year.
“We don’t actually treat bobcats at Greenwood,” Tatro said. “Although we do have a license to, we usually try to connect people with an independent rehabber in the Larkspur area.”