neildiamond11790:
Charles, Not to sound like the anti-pet guy, I have a dog and would be pissed as well, but if its native animals encroaching on the suburbs then its just doing what it needs to survive. This will only end badly for the bobcat unfortunately with someone eventually killing it when all its trying to do is survive. This is just the result of taking away land that was once home to native animals and pushing them to desperation.
Fence in your yard, only let your pets go outside when you can go outside with them. Quite frankly its your pet, be protective of it. If the food source dries up for the bobcat it will probably leave or will head further into town where it will eventually be killed by a car or a person. Encourage your neighbors to keep animals indoors or attended. Anything left outdoors like many people do with cats, are fair game and only the owner to blame.
I understand that the bobcat is only trying to eat, but there are plenty of squirrels, so it is basically just preying upon domesticated pets because they probably just stand there and let it approach. I'm also skeptical of the reasoning that the bobcat has somehow been forced out of a large forest, into a small one, because there has been little development here in the past 10 years. There hasn't been new construction outside of a few dozen homes or tearing down old businesses in order to put up new ones, in this area, for a long time! I drove 10 hours yesterday through the country, so there is tons of space for him to live in, but unfortunately, he chose the wrong area. Someone might have put him there(?), who knows, but he doesn't belong here.
However, it has to go, whether that means killing it or trapping it and releasing it elsewhere. If it is allowed to eat up all the neighborhood pets, which is unacceptable in its own right, as far as I'm concerned, then it is only a matter of time before it goes after a kid, which is even more unacceptable.