Bobcat With Rat

Bobcat with rat.

Bobcat with a rat. [Photo by Dave Kirby]

This bobcat was captured in pixels by Southern Humboldt resident Dave Kirby yesterday. The wild feline with black tufts on its ears is a fierce predator for its relatively small size. (They average a little under 20 pounds.)

Bobcats can help reduce rodents but, rats sickened by rodenticides make easy prey and that can harm or kill the feline.

Got a photo of one of our local wild felines? Please share it with us in the comment section for all to enjoy.

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32 Comments
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Carol
Guest
Carol
5 years ago

Nice kitty 🐱 and a great photo, Dave.

nines
Guest
5 years ago

A thousand years ago I was the caretaker for a very large and beautiful property down in Mendocino. The owners were only there for a few months every year, and when they were gone I made sure their garden stayed watered and their cat was fed.

One day, as I was passing their garage on the way into their house to get the cat food, I heard a strange clacking and clattering under the roses planted behind the garage. It was frantic-sounding. It turned out to be a baby blue-belly lizard who had all four feet firmly glued into an insect trap they’d set out to keep the bugs off their roses.

There was NO way to free the tiny thing without taking off or grievously maiming all four of its feet. Its tail was stuck, too, but that would grow back. Not so with the feet. It had been struggling so hard it was almost completely unable to move by the time I got to it… and maybe even hearing me come through the gate is what sent it scurrying to its doom. I don’t know.

I just know I had to kill it, and it broke my heart.

As for the use of rodenticides… sheesh… Kym. We don’t stand a chance. Not a chance.

local observer
Guest
local observer
5 years ago
Reply to  nines

next time or for others reading this. cover the remaining part of the sticky trap with sand and it will most likely shed its skin and live after a day or two. I have successfully done this with an alligator lizard.

ellie hames
Guest
ellie hames
5 years ago
Reply to  local observer

actually veggie oil is faster and safer for both

nines
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  local observer

I sure wish I had you guys there at the time. I was trying to figure a way to get the sticky stuff warmed enough to break the little guy free, but the trap was only about two inches by one inch, which left very little of the baby lizard free from becoming completely stuck/slimed. We’re talking tiny baby lizard and struggling like a maniac, worsening the situation by the second. The trap was only maybe a quarter of an inch deep, just enough for doom any way I tried to figure it.

I considered finding tweezers to hold the damn thing in warm water — and keep the head out of the water — long enough that the glue might loosen from around the tiny feet, but the poor thing was struggling so hard and getting more glued by the second, and my proximity was making it worse. I realized that even if I could get his back legs free that way, there wasn’t going to be a way to get the front ones free without drowning the poor baby lizard.

Just pulling would have taken all four feet. I’m not sure anything would have worked, but I’ll be better prepared if there is a next time. Thanks.

Lynx
Guest
Lynx
5 years ago
Reply to  nines

There are ways to safely remove animals from glue traps – next time call Humboldt Wildlife Care Center in Arcata (707) 822-8839 🙏🏼

Ain't that a b...
Guest
Ain't that a b...
5 years ago

Why is someone trapping a bobcat? That’s not normal!

Sold out
Guest
Sold out
5 years ago

Yea leave it alone Dave Kirby. I don’t understand why someone trapping a bobcat to move it out of it’s woods is newsworthy ? Just confused. A cool picture yes but why is this man so excited about capturing a wild animal? Leave it be. It’s cooler than you

laura cooskey
Guest
laura cooskey
5 years ago
Reply to  Sold out

Oh jeesh, just when i thought i would be getting the Emily Litella prizes for misplaced righteousness… i am sure that when Kym says Dave “captured” the bobcat, she meant with his camera. He shot the cat, too, right? And a good shot it was. With his lens.

laura cooskey
Guest
laura cooskey
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

You made a good save by adding the “pixels.” Do you remember Gilda Radner on Sat. Night Live, as Emily Litella… the worried commenters would be like her now: “Oh, that’s very different!…… >never mind<"

CA
Guest
CA
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

“Its always somethin’!”

-Roseanne Rosannadanna

simone whipple
Guest
simone whipple
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

I’ve learned not to read the comments on your blog, because of…well, just about every comment is ridiculous, and often hateful.
I decided to read these comments because, Kirby, and Bunny are buddies of mine, and I wanted to see what people had to say about these wonderful photos.
The comments about the horrors of Kirby ‘capturing a wild animal’ cracked me up! A real Laugh Out Loud moment.

Lost Croat Outburst
Guest
Lost Croat Outburst
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Amazing, isn’t it? The assumptions people make based on nothing. You’d think anybody who can log on to your site could type in “pixels” on their search engine, but NO!

Dave Kirby
Guest
Dave Kirby
5 years ago
Reply to  Sold out

Yep I captured it with a Panasonic Lumix . I have a deal with the cat. Every time he nails a Wood Rat I take his picture.

Bonnie
Guest
Bonnie
5 years ago
Reply to  Dave Kirby

Damn good deal, Kirby! Great photo with the mesmerizing eyes. Is it around a lot?

Dave Kirby
Guest
Dave Kirby
5 years ago
Reply to  Bonnie

No been years since we’ve seen one around here.

Lost Croat Outburst
Guest
Lost Croat Outburst
5 years ago

He captured the bobcat with pixels which means a digital photo. Apparently the cat was not harmed or hassled. Predators are the gardener’s friend which reveals the abysmal ignorance of hooks-in-hotdogs and poison. You place your treadle-style mechanical rat or mouse trap in a can or one-gallon pot turned sideways on the ground, one or two per plant. The treadle faces outward, awaiting the hungry rodent which must approach your plant to find the trap. You use a whole
peanut rubber-banded to the treadle which is bent slightly to hold better on the retaining wire. A whole peanut will not attract herbivores from afar like p-nut butter will. The sheltering can or pot deters birds and casual cruisers like snakes which are also your friend.
Including rattlesnakes; just be careful. They are not vicious, they just wanna eat rodents. Outdoor plants require zero to very few poisons of any kind.

Bautiful “shot” BTW. Thank you.

Bunny Wilder
Guest
Bunny Wilder
5 years ago

Slowly stalking its prey

Bonnie
Guest
Bonnie
5 years ago
Reply to  Bunny Wilder

Nice camera catch yourself, Bunny—action-packed without movement.

Bunny Wilder
Guest
Bunny Wilder
5 years ago

we had a stare down. The cat won.

Bobcat appreciators
Guest
Bobcat appreciators
5 years ago

Most impressive. Good catch David. That’s a fast trigger finger!

Dave Kirby
Guest
Dave Kirby
5 years ago

Very lucky it came out as nice as it did. Shutter set 100 do to low light and a hand held telephoto could have been a lot blurrier. But did have motion stabilizer camera.

Mogtx
Guest
5 years ago

I saw a bobcat once going up the hill to the redway dump .

honestworkingman
Guest
honestworkingman
5 years ago

huge numbers of growers use rodenticides, scumbags!

Lost Croat Outburst
Guest
Lost Croat Outburst
5 years ago

It’s very stupid. See my prior post above. Jackass growers give us all a bad name. “Huge numbers” could be an exaggeration made by armchair reporters but it’s a very poor practice.

Rachel
Guest
Rachel
5 years ago

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing this.

Silverling
Guest
Silverling
5 years ago

We used to have a trim scene and had a pile of trim behind the house.
Once my wife went out to dump some trim and found a bobcat rolling and purring in it.
It was very chill and didn’t even run away.
It was kind of like cat nip to it we guessed.

Lynx
Guest
Lynx
5 years ago

Post it on iNauralist!

Silverling
Guest
Silverling
5 years ago

Bobcat poisoning is a lot more likely than raptor poisoning because raptors can’t hunt in the dense woods and undergrowth that rats thrive in because raptors can’t get them there. Bobcats can.
I’m pretty sure raptors make a living off field mice that eat grass seed from meadows.

Joe Mota
Guest
Joe Mota
5 years ago

Cat ‘N a Rat….. wasn’t the Dr. Seuss book?