Video Shows 3 Possible Bobcats In Stratford Yard

STRATFORD, CT — What appear to be as many as three bobcats recently paid a visit to a Stratford home, according to surveillance footage, as seen on the Neighbors app.

The video, timestamped shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday, shows what looks like three bobcats, two of whom walk up the pathway to the steps of the home before exiting through the garden.

Connecticut's bobcat population was once dwindling, until the animal was classified in the 1970s as a protected furbearer with no hunting or trapping seasons, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The bobcat population has since recovered due to legal protections, as well as improving forest habitat conditions.

In December, a 12-year-old boy in Fairfield was scratched by a bobcat and suffered a minor injury after encountering the animal in his backyard. However, bobcat attacks on people are extremely rare, according to the state environmental department's website, and the animals don't typically cause conflicts with human activities, although they do occasionally kill livestock and attack domestic cats.

Bobcats are most active just after dusk and before dawn, the website said. The environmental department is asking Connecticut residents who see bobcats to report the sightings to determine the size and distribution of the population. Anyone who spots a bobcat can notify the state by emailing deep.ctwildlife@ct.gov, posting on the Facebook page for the department's Bureau of Natural Resources at www.facebook.com/CTFishandWildlife or recording observations through the free app iNaturalist.

For more information about bobcats in Connecticut, visit bit.ly/2ZTYJ1V.

Ring, the owner of the Neighbors app, is a Patch advertiser. Patch received no compensation for this article.