2 bobcats shot, killed in Milo area

MILO – There have been some strangers lurking around the Milo-Brownville area in recent weeks but they haven’t been the two-legged kind.

Two bobcats, which typically are nocturnal and solitary animals, were shot and killed recently after residents raised concerns about their presence in the community.

“The places the bobcats are, are not places where they should be,” Warden Dan Carroll of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said Wednesday evening.

The low temperatures have been stressful on the predators and apparently wore them down, so bobcats are moving to populated areas where they can easily catch birds at feeders and small mammals such as squirrels, according to Carroll.

Bobcats typically dine on mice, small birds and snowshoe hares.

The bobcat population has done well over the years because of the mild winters and the strong snowshoe hare population, according to DIF&W wildlife biologist Doug Kane.

The young or the inexperienced, however, have difficulty feeding themselves because of the snow depth, and it is usually those animals that head for areas where garbage and easy prey can be found, he said Thursday.

Bobcats are seen this time of year or later almost every winter, especially if there have been no thaws to pack the snow down, Kane explained.

The animals are up against a unique situation this winter, however, because the snow is granular and there have been no thaws to provide a snowpack, he noted. The bobcats sink into the snow and find it hard to hunt. In addition, it has been extremely cold.

“Their guard comes down a little because they’re starving,” Kane said. The biologist has heard of bobcats going after pigs, chickens and even a goose because they were hungry.

One resident in the Orneville area told authorities in recent weeks that he saw two bobcats in one day which is considered a rarity since the animal is so elusive.

The bobcat that stalked the Brownville farm, killing one goat and attempting to kill another, was shot and killed last week, according to Carroll.

The farmer told Carroll he had shot at the animal on two occasions, but it disappeared each time. The next time the bobcat appeared, the farmer shot it.

Carroll said the killing was justified because it had attacked the farmer’s livestock. In addition, it had been open season for bobcat. The hunting season ran from Dec. 1 to Feb. 14.

Last week, several people called wardens and the Milo Police Department to report they had seen a bobcat lurking around the local carwash, at Bailey Lumber, on High Street and near the Milo Elementary School.

Cathy Knox, the school principal, said the school was cautious after the animal was observed by residents. She said school buses were moved closer to the school doors for entrance or exit.

Carroll said he was unable to find the bobcat until last week when a resident who lives behind Rite Aid reported the animal was beneath his porch. Carroll dispatched the approximately 20-pound bobcat simply to avoid something bad happening to a child or a domestic animal.

“It just seemed to me it didn’t have any fear,” Carroll said of his interaction with the wild animal. “It appeared to be in good physical condition.” He did not send the animal for testing as it had not had direct contact with any human, he noted.

In the case of the two bobcats, residents did the correct thing, according to the warden. They did not approach the animals but called authorities.

People should be wary of wild animals that appear in unnatural places or are acting peculiar, Kane said.