Bobcats get up close and personal in East County

With a mother bobcat parked near her two babies in his River Place backyard, Denny Yoder finally had enough.

He wasn’t annoyed the bobcats have made his yard a frequent stop and playground, he just couldn’t take his eyes off them for 90 minutes straight.

“We love watching them,” Yoder said. “The babies jump on each other and wrestle while mom watches. They do know we are watching because whenever we take photos, the mother always is looking at the camera.”

Yoder and his wife,  Kay, watch from behind a large window in their home. 

“We’ve lived here for eight years,” said Yoder, who is a contractor/builder. “The back of our property extends to the Braden River. We have a little L-shaped area of woods in our backyard. That’s where we see them because they have wild habitat on two of their sides.”

While the Yoders try to give them space, bobcats in general are having a harder time finding any open area.

A Sarasota County Sheriff’s deputy took photos of a bobcat roaming the streets of Siesta Key on Tuesday. Before the deputy had spotted the bobcat, a call had been made to Bradenton’s Wildlife Inc., to capture the animal.

Wildlife Inc. Vice President Damen Hurd had been called to trap the animal, but he said the contact with the deputy proved it was not a threat, so it was left to enjoy its home.

With more homes being built in Manatee and Sarasota counties, bobcats must continue to live in harmony with humans.

“We don’t have any population estimates, but I can tell you bobcats are fairly common in urban areas,” said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. “There are quite a few of them.

“Bobcats are afraid of people and they pose no real threat. You can see them in the daytime now because they are active when their prey is active.”

Morse said the bobcats serve an important role in the environment by eating many of the rodents and animals that humans generally consider pests.

Yoder said he and his wife always want to feed the bobcats, but they resist the urge.

“Nah, we don’t feed them,” Yoder said. “We know it’s not good for them.”

“Anything people feed them creates a problem,” said Ed Straight, the president of Wildlife Inc. “They begin to expect other people to feed them. Just give them space and leave them alone. They will be on their way.”

However, their way to open space is getting smaller.

Yoder understands, but he also knows the expanding population demands homes.

“You are asking a builder,” he said. “I see both sides.

“There are laws to set open land aside.”

Fortunately, Straight and Wildlife Inc. can relocate bobcats when they become a problem for homeowners or builders.

“We get bobcats here and we release them back into the wild,” Straight said. “Like the other animals we have here, they have been separated (from their home) due to interaction with humans.”

Straight, who calls this “baby” season and notes the mother bobcats are out during the day more to find food for the kittens, said sometimes bobcat dens are uncovered when crews are clearing the land. The mother bobcat can become frightened and run off.

Two years ago, Wildlife Inc. was sent a baby bobcat with a broken leg. They healed the broken leg, but the baby had other problems.

“It started having seizures,” Straight said. “That’s the one bobcat we have at Mixon Fruit Farms. It still is on medication.”

Wildlife Inc.’s headquarters in Bradenton Beach is not open to the public by federal law. However, some of the animals that can’t be released back into the wild due to their condition sometimes are sent to Mixon Fruit Farms, where Hurd watches over the population, all released to the site by federal permit.

Hurd cares for the animals, including birds, animals and snakes, at Mixon Fruit Farms. Those include Pawnee, the 2-year-old bobcat. Hurd said Pawnee is friendlier than a house cat. 

“Those seizures have made it impossible to return the cat to the wild,” he said.

Pawnee can be seen during tours of Mixon Fruit Farms.

Straight said most bobcats are like Pawnee, harmless. “They are not going to attack unless cornered,” he said.