Bobcat Population Is On The Rise In Illinois

ILLINOIS — A 5-year-old Colorado girl had the staring contest of her life on April 10 after a bobcat jumped into her backyard and locked eyes with her; such encounters may become more common — an encounter that could be repeated in Illinois and others as bobcat populations rebound.

The little girl is fine after the face-to-face encounter with the medium-size cat that is typically about twice as big as an average house cat. A North Carolina family had a more frightening encounter with a bobcat that later tested positive rabies, and had to take the rabies vaccine.
In most cases, experts say, people catch only a fleeting glimpse of the stealthy cats, which are as disinterested in confronting humans as they are in being confronted.

With the exception of Delaware, bobcats are found in every corner of the continental U.S. Most states, like Illinois, have seen a rise in the bobcat population, according to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management.

In Illinois the population is estimated to be around 2,252 bobcats and increasing, the study found. But the Illinois Bobcat Foundation believes the population could actually be as high as 5,000.

Bobcats, possibly a mother and her kittens, were spotted on a game camera in a Will County forest preserve back in October, and again in recent weeks in another Will County preserve. Officials said that marks two sightings in just six months.

Bobcats were on the state's threatened species list in the 1970s, but that designation was removed in 1999. Since 2016, it's been legal to hunt or trap bobcats in parts of Illinois, though it remains illegal in more than 30 counties, including many in the Chicago area. A bill was introduced in February that would ban the practice of hunting or trapping the animals. The bill was re-referred to the House Rules committee in late March.

Jennifer Kuroda, the president of the Illinois Bobcat Foundation, told Northern Public Radio that bobcats have been spotted in 99 out of Illinois' 102 counties and will not attack humans unless they are cornered or rabid. She's in favor of banning hunting or trapping the medium-sized cats.

"When you hunt deer, it's more than just going out and killing something," she told the station. "You're using the deer for something. You're eating the deer, you're using it. You don't eat bobcats."

The study — which relied on public sightings, hunter surveys and the number of bobcats hit by vehicles, among other measures — found “bobcat populations are expanding across much of their geographic range.”

“These increases are likely attributable primarily to multiple factors including habitat availability, increased prey density, changing land-use practices and intense harvest management at the state level,” according to the study.

The resurgence doesn’t mean human-bobcat encounters will become an everyday occurrence.
Bobcats tend to shy away from humans, according to Ted Stankowich, a behavioral ecologist at California State University, Long Beach. Typically, bobcats hunt rodents and rabbits for food and stay away from suburban neighborhoods, he told The New York Times.

However, there have been some cases where bobcats do come into contact with humans.

In the incident with the girl in Colorado, the bobcat was chasing a rabbit before its stare-down with the 5-year-old, according to KDVR-TV. The bobcat eventually left the backyard after 22 seconds and the girl was unharmed.

In North Carolina, a rabid bobcat attacked a man and woman earlier this month after it had wandered into their neighborhood. The man ran after the bobcat and shot at it with a handgun, killing the animal.

In the event a person does encounter a bobcat in suburbia, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife does have some recommendations on how to act:

• Try to scare the animal away by shouting and waving your arms in the air to appear larger.
• If handy, use a hose to shoot water at a bobcat.
• Throw rocks at the animal.

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Bobcats Caught On Game Camera In Will County Preserve