Saw a freaking BOBCAT this morning! Help with ideas?

[Imp]

I guess I should say closer than Kent or Fairwood.

 

[ruth]

We had something running into our yard, right next to coop/run area and grabbing a bird every other day, including a big BR rooster. We thought it was a fox. Then DH walked right up on a big bobcat the other morning at 10:00 in our barn - I guess waiting for me to let his breakfast out of the coop/run area. This bobcat was not afraid of our German Shepherd or our other three dogs that run with our free range flock. It would just wait at edge of woods till it saw it's chance, maybe when the dogs were away for a bit, and then run up and grab a bird. Since then we've been keeping the chickens in the run hoping the bobcat will go elsewhere. Plus it's hunting season here and the woods behind our barn are full of hunters. I hoping someone shoots it. I do know the dogs pick up it's scent dozens of times a day and go chasing it through the woods but it kept returning. We haven't lost any birds over the last two weeks since we spotted the bobcat but we're keeping them locked in fenced area - though a few jump/fly the fence. I thought maybe the bobcat was gone but just yesterday and again just now the dogs took off after something through the woods again and you could here it running and I'm guessing it's the bobcat. So I don't think they ever give up. You'll need to have a secure run.

 

[PortageGirl]

This page is really about bears, but at the bottom they talk about cougars too... worth asking them maybe.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/bears.htm

Here's that part...

"The Department of Fish and Wildlife responds to cougar and bear sightings when there is a threat to public safety or property. If it is an emergency, dial 911.

If you encounter a cougar or black bear problem, and it is not an emergency, contact the nearest regional Department of Fish and Wildlife office between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. In King County, the number to call is (425)775-1311.

If you need to report a non-emergency problem when Department of Fish and Wildlife offices are closed, contact the Washington State Patrol or nearest law enforcement agency."

I know in Alaska, you can kill anything that is threatening your livestock or family, but if you kill a bear or a wolf, you better be able to justify it pretty strongly, so get the nice kitty *cough* to scratch up your coop before you shoot it.

 

[bheila]

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I just emailed the Fish and Wildlife Department to see how I can protect my livestock lawfully. Because my chickens, ducks and turkeys are part of my food chain. I know that the wild animals are just trying to survive like us but I wouldn't mind shooting a bobcat. Sorry if that offends any of you.

 

[bheila]

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We've had 3 bears here in the last 7 years. They don't scare me though, they just walk on through. I just know that the darn bobcat will be here to stay

and my pellet gun won't be a good enough deterant.

 

[Imp]

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You gotta do what you gotta do, but poor kitty. I have 8 other cat rescues. Do you think it will fit in? Sleep on the bed? Get along with the rest? and most importantly Get chased away from its food by the chickens?

Good Luck and remember the last S in SSS.

 

[NurseELB]

WOW.

We have a large wooded area across the street from our house that the city calls a 'park'. This past summer there were numerous sightings of a cougar there and in nearby shopping areas. I completely forgot until I saw this thread. My girls are new to me, and so far all I've worried about is the raccoons and possums!! I'll be making sure they're tucked in tight from now on!! Hopefully ours is just eating the local wildlife instead. May there be enough for him to eat for a long time!!

 

[deerman]

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No bird of prey, in any State!!

 

[Imp]

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I remember the cougar that went shopping at Safeway there in Olympia. Be careful.

 

[chicknmania]

Why is it a "freaking" bobcat? It has as much right to be there as you do. It hasn't done anything. Maybe it's telling it's friends "I saw a freaking human". We had a bobcat in our woods once, before the "freaking" humans put up a bunch of cheap houses that are now sitting empty. The bobcat never did anything, we never even saw it, just heard it several times. And saw it's prints in the mud in our woods. Electric fence should more than work.