by 
My sister lives about seven miles north of me on Dynamite Road, just a few miles west of the blessed 100 miles of singletrack @ Pima & Dynamite. Which, incidentally, is some of the best mountain biking in the Valley as far as I’m concerned.
So, nice house, horse property, lots of desert around. And, as of last week, three bobcats in the side yard.
Yep. You heard right. A year or so back, my niece was playing on her swing set when she told her father, “Daddy, the slide has eyes”.
My brother-in-law investigated and found a big old kitty squirreled up underneath the plastic slide. Eyes, indeed. No more playing on your swing set for a few weeks, honey. It happens.
Fast forward to this summer. Now there is a Mother and two little chitlens knocking about.
No more playing on your swing set for a few weeks, honey.
by 
Nice the bobcats are doing well; too bad for your niece’s playtime. Think the solution is a big dog outside on a long leash. Protects your niece, can protect itself, but won’t be able to catch and kill the cats.
Live on Tatum / Dynamite. Bobcat was seen in neighborhood MILF’s and by my wife walking the dogs last summer. Big fucker. Was either really brave or rabid, not sure what happened to it but made HOA newsletter and then never heard of it or saw it again.
Maybe Bobcats are good eatin’….
YOu should breed & sell those Jonny.
“Domesitc Bobcats. Good with Children”
Nice. P and D does suck tho. Maybe good as a connector.
Cats rule. Dogs drool.
Bobcats are pretty cool. I almost ran over one in the Upper Yakima River Canyon a few years back.
We had bobcats out the ass at our place outside Weirdcliffe, and the odd mountain lion to keep them honest. Beautiful critters. I remember seeing one parked on the hillside at the mailbox down on the county road and getting out of the truck for a closer look. Dude looks at me like, “Whatchoo lookin’ at, beeyatch?” Or maybe, “Who’s the pussy here, yo?”
That was a real Wild Kingdom locale. Buzzworms on the ‘cross course, burrowing owls in the creek bed, bears in the living-room window, mule deer under the deck (so dumb you could hunt them with a Twinkie and a ball-peen hammer) and ring-tailed cats on top of it, elk up the road, ermine weasels under the shed, Mexican woodrats under the hood of the Toyota, in the washing machine and one toilet, coyotes fuckin’ everywhere and the occasional bald eagle.
Lots of rich honkies, too. No bag limit, but they make pretty poor eating.
Rich honkeys? You don’t eat’em, you render their fat asses for soap, like Fight Club.
Yeah, likin’ the bobcats.
Go Team Bobcat.
bobcats rule. glad to see theres still some forms of wildlife about. no pigeons or roof rats in yer sista’s hood. fer shur.
…beautiful little creatures…glad your niece had enough fear(?), intuition(?), common sense(?), whatever it was, that led her to report it to daddy, rather than try to pat the cute little kitty kats…
…they might’ve allowed it but protective momma, not so much…like, not at all…
…we see bobcats here in marin, which is a pretty populated area, along w/ some awesomely cool little foxes & there’s the occasional mountain lion sighting (plus the usual plentiful deer, rabbits, skunks, opossum as their food source…well maybe not so much the skunks) but the real predator on the block these days are the absolutely ubiquitous coyotes…
…coyotes can look pretty scruffy, when they’re hungry i’d guess, but i sat one night for several full minutes about 10 yards away from a healthy, magnificent looking creature & we both just scoped each other out w/out moving…i talked out loud to him in a calm voice, telling him how awesome & beautiful i thought he was…he stood there, prob’ly ready to flee but he never freaked & in the end he just calmly walked away…
…thank you, mother nature…i dug your pal…
I love it when nature makes a comeback. LOTS of coyotes in these parts snagging small scruffy purse-dogs…some people are even kind enough to leave them tied up in thier back yards…easy pickins.
I’m with dave 100% on the cat/dog question. They are just better athletes, IMO. My yard is minus a few birds and chipmunks due to my little 7 lb Mojo…plus, she had decided to be the boss of my new neighbor’s two 75 lb golden retrievers…smacked one on the nose thru the fence the other day.
This story made me about cry a year ago…I was rooting for the big cat to take down at least one person…http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-chicago-cougar-shot-webapr15,0,98147.story
bobcats are OK with people – i’d just not pick up the kittens & let them run their course, consider myself lucky to have them {you sure aren’t gonna have ANY rodents!!} and if you don’t want them seal up the crevice they are residing in when they split – there must be a hole, OR, they are *really* fond of attics & crawl spaces……Steve.
Dogs are the best!
I like to watch my cat hunt, and he’s nice to me when he wants something, but my dog is my best friend!
…we knew that, flanders…yer dog always speaks highly of you, but the cat ???…the damn cat is a smack talker when yer name comes up…
…just sayin’…
That is so cute!!! (In a high-pitched chicks voice) Anyways, in southwest Colorado my mom adopted a ferrel cat that was obviously a cross between a standard house cat and a bobcat. The thing was badass would drag whole rabbits in the house and what not. It was also mean ass shit, like, it would let you pet it one day and then bite you the next. Kind of like women.
Nothing at all against dogs. My best friend ever was a beagle named Dusty. I was 25 when he died and I bawled like a baby. I swear, if he’s not waiting for me in Heaven I’ll take m-y chances in Hell.
But cats just make better sense for our lifestyle. I ain’t about to leave a dog in an empty house or chained up all day, but our kitty-kitties seem to thrive on one anothers’ company. Dogs? Some day when I don’t spend all day down the road…
Might not want to play in the sandbox for a while either.
Cats aren’t that great. I got a kick out of watching a neighborhood toughguy tomcat bop our retriever in the nose once. Instinct kicked in and the cat was promptly chased down and retrieved. We freed it before it took too many shakes and all was good, although it never came withing probably 100 yards of our property again.
cats definitely don’t make you feel guilty about leaving at home for a weekend though, as dave points out.