Bobcats Make Themselves At Home In Tyngsboro Backyard
TYNGSBORO (CBS) - Bruce and Pam Waite often see wildlife in their yard, which backs up to conservation land in Tyngsboro. "Turkeys, deer, coyotes," Pam explained. But Saturday afternoon, this couple got a first. "My neighbor Wanda called and said Bruce, look out your back door," Bruce said. When he looked, he saw two bobcats not far from his house.
"My cat is about 15 pounds and the female was about three times the size of my cat and the male was another 15 pounds heavier than that, so I was actually pretty surprised how big they were," he said.
To get a better view, Bruce made his way to a second floor window and waited for his wife to get home. "When she pulled in the driveway they didn't seem to care and as soon as I heard her come in I said you got to come up here and see this," Bruce said. "I was in awe. You get that stuff on The Discovery Channel, but to see it in your own backyard was pretty cool," added Pam.
For two hours, the Waites watched the incredible sight from their bedroom window. To document it, Bruce got creative using the camera on his phone. "As you zoom in with the camera, it kind of gets fuzzy so I said how about lining up the binoculars with the camera," he said. "It was a little tricky, but I got some pretty good pictures."
The pictures show something the couple understands is very rare. It's not often you see a bobcat and even more surprising apparently, for them to hang out in plain sight for so long. But it is mating season for the animals, and their visitors had something else on their mind. "I snuck around the house just to make me sure my chickens were in, but they didn't care about anybody," Bruce said.
"Every now and then she'd get up and she'd look, but as soon as she started to take a step he'd come out and get right in her face like you're not moving," Pam explained. The bobcats mated, and now the Waites hope to see some additions. "Looks like 62 days for the gestation period so in about two months we'll see if there are a couple of little kits running around," Bruce said.
Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife says bobcats are now the only wild cat found in the state. They are typically twice of the size of a domestic house cat.
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