AMHERST — At their home on Amity Street at the edge of downtown Amherst, Steve and Sharon Judge were eating lunch early Sunday afternoon when they observed a bobcat walking through the side yard before approaching the front door.
“This is the first time I have ever seen a bobcat this close up,” Steve Judge says. “I was surprised to see one in town.”
After stepping onto the porch and getting a brief reaction from the animal, while quickly snapping photos, the bobcat didn’t linger long.
“Once the bobcat hissed at me he pretty much ignored me and went on his way searching through the bushes and then back out through our yard,” Judge said.
The presence of a bobcat, in a developed area with many homes and close to the town’s main commercial district, may be unusual, but appears to be growing in frequency, based on the calls she is receiving, said Carol Hepburn, the town’s animal welfare officer.
“Wildlife is very prevalent in town center: several bobcats, multiple bears and cubs, and coyotes,” Hepburn said.
Any place in proximity to woods can bring wildlife, she said, and bird feeders, garbage cans and other sources of food can be a magnet for wildlife.
“All wildlife is migrating into people’s yards and porches,” Hepburn said. “Wildlife is very hungry and looking for food.”
Judge said he has no bird feeders up this summer, but many squirrels and chipmunks run around the yard that the bobcat might have been after.
While bobcats, the only wild cat in Massachusetts, generally don’t pose danger to people, Hepburn said that another resident reported that her cat was attacked by a larger animal, possibly a bobcat, and now is responsible for a $3,000 veterinary bill to treat its wounds.
Just like with the black bears becoming regular visitors to Amherst center over the past 25 years, Hepburn said residents need to be cautious, aware of surroundings and use common sense, such as keeping small pets inside.
“People are going to have to learn to co-exist,” Hepburn said.
In addition to keeping trash and compost secure, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals urges homeowners to feed companion animals indoors, close off crawl spaces under porches, decks, or the foundation, and place chickens in a secure pen or coop away from remote or wooded areas.
Bobcats, which are common in the western and central parts of Massachusetts, weigh between 15 and 35 pounds and are 28 to 47 inches long, twice the size of a domestic house cat, according to the MSPCA. Although their paws are often misidentified as domestic cat paws, their bushy hair, short bobbed tail, and larger size make it fairly easy to distinguish them from domestic cats.
Bobcats are shy and solitary animals that can travel up to 4 miles daily. They are carnivores and prey primarily on rabbits, hares, squirrels, mice, muskrats, and birds, though they may prey on larger animals like deer if their food supply is scarce, the MSPCA said. They remain active year-round and prefer habitats with climbable trees, in which they rest, hide from predators, and hunt. They tend to be most mobile at dawn and dusk.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
