The local resident just wanted to check out the newcomers, but Bruce was having none of it. Bruce, a large gray and white house cat, protested loudly when a curious young bobcat came to call at his bed and breakfast in Whistler, British Columbia. The two felines were not too disparate in size, but a friendship was clearly not going to happen.
Despite their similarities, house cats and bobcats cannot interbreed, according to Infinitely Wild. Kittens from each species do look very much alike, however, only taking on more species-specific characteristics as they get older. This includes the bobcat’s larger size, rounder head, black-tipped ears, and, of course, their short “bobbed” tail.
The National Park Service, in the course of a very long study of bobcats, has observed that they tend to avoid humans, only venturing across human territory when trying to get from one wilderness location to another. Their strictly carnivorous diet means they eat mainly rodents, and have occasionally been sickened by eating poisoned rodents in human territory.
Bobcats can be found all over the United States and southern Canada, and have always been hunted for their pelts. Big Cat Rescue reports that a recent surge in Russian interest in bobcat pelts “threatens to wipe the bobcat out of America.” Based on reported numbers — more than 40,000 bobcats per year are killed by hunters in the United States — there is no way to know the number of unreported kills.
Most U.S. states outlaw keeping bobcats as pets, but not all of them. Don’t tell Bruce.
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