Bobcat Sets Up Quite The Habitat In Vernon — Near Animal Control

VERNON, CT — A bobcat seems to have established a habitat near — of all places — the Vernon Animal Control headquarters.

One was spotted behind the facility recently by Animal Control Officer Craig Segar.

"I came out of the office and, behind the fence, I saw what I first thought might be a cat," Segar said. "I liked closer and saw it was a bobcat. He paid he no mind and kept walking like he owned the place."

The Vernon Animal Control headquarters are located at 100 Windsorville Road, essentially between the regional water treatment plant and Scanton Motors.

Segar said he wanted the public to know because the location its the bobcat's territory near the Hockanum River Trail system, part of the Hockanum River Linear Park. The area makes sense, he said, because of the rive corridor and thickly wooded sections.

According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the state's bobcat population was dwindling until 1972, when unregulated exploitation was halted, and the bobcat was reclassified as a protected furbearer with no hunting or trapping seasons.

The bobcat population has since recovered because of "improving forest habitat conditions" and legal protections. By 1825, only 25 percent of Connecticut was forested due to deforestation from agricultural activities and other uses of timber, according to the DEEP. Today, nearly 60 percent of the state is covered in forest, and bobcats are regularly observed throughout the state, according to the DEEP.

In Connecticut, bobcats prey on cottontail rabbits, woodchucks, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, voles, white-tailed deer, birds, and, to a much lesser extent, insects and reptiles. Bobcats, on occasion, may also prey on unsupervised domestic animals, including small livestock and poultry.

Hikers should just be aware, Segar said.

To see more about bobcats in the state, check out the DEEP's bobcat page.