Joanne Camann was entertaining guests in her home on South Street in September when her daughter noticed an unusual animal “lying in the sun, having a good old time, sunning itself in the backyard,” she said. “We thought, ‘Is it a fox?’ But then we saw it was some kind of cat, but it was too big to be a housecat.” A friend got a photo. The cat got up and sauntered away.
It was a bobcat.
“We were pretty excited,” Camann said. “It’s a beautiful wild animal.”
Bobcats, the only wild cats living in Massachusetts, are making more frequent appearances in Needham as their numbers across Massachusetts rebound even while their local habitats are felled to construction.
Bobcats are shy animals native to New England. Their numbers are increasing in suburban Boston as they move east from Central Massachusetts where their population is growing, said Dave Wattles, black bear and furbearer project leader for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
“It’s a trend,” Wattles said. “It’s a positive sign that our ecosystems are healthy now.”
And it’s not just bobcats that are making a comeback. Bears, beavers, coyotes, foxes and other animals are rebounding. Following many years of overhunting and deforestation, Massachusetts forests are now returning and strict hunting limits are being enforced.
Bobcats stand two to three times the size of a house cat. They have spotted fur, tufted ears and fluffy cheeks. They hunt small animals like squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits. The only other wild cat native to New England, the mountain lion, also known as the cougar or catamount, has been extinct in Massachusetts for at least a century.
Needham Animal Control Officer David Parsons said another reason people are seeing more bobcats and other wild animals in Needham is they have become more visible as construction of larger homes and other buildings replace green areas.
“Needham is changing dramatically,” Parsons said. “When a tree goes down,” he said, “the animals’ homes are gone. Then they’re on the move, looking for a new place to live.”
The South Street area is a good example, he said. Single homes on larger lots have been torn down and replaced with several houses taking the available habitat with them.
Bobcats are shy of humans and pose almost no danger, Wattles said. In modern history, the past 100 years, there have been only six to seven reports of injury due to bobcats in Massachusetts. Compare that to three to six coyote-related incidents per year, he said.
Local media outlets have reported bobcat sightings as close as Dedham earlier this year and in Wayland, Woburn and Billerica.
The biggest draw to suburban yards for bobcats and other carnivorous animals is bird feeders, Wattles said. Bobcats don’t eat bird seed, but they eat the chipmunks, squirrels, mice, birds and rabbits that eat the seed.
“Bird feeders are wildlife feeding stations. They are the bane of my existence,” said Wattles who recommends against using bird feeders. Although bobcats pose no significant danger to humans, small pets like cats and dogs under 30 pounds should be protected.
Suggestions for living side-by-side with bobcats in the suburbs:
- Eliminate food sources including bird feeders and food waste.
- Keep small pets indoors or monitor them closely when outdoors.
- Keep dogs leashed to protect the dog and the wildlife.
- Keep a safe distance from a bobcat or other wild animals.
- Enjoy the sight of these beautiful wild animals from your picture window.
Kay Cahill is a professional journalist and a Needham Library trustee
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