According to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, this month a homeowner in San Manuel, Arizona was met with a wild bobcat lounging in their pet’s dog bed when they entered their home.
The homeowner told the department, they believed that the wild cat made its way into the house through an unlocked doggy door and then settled in comfortably on the dog’s bed.
Capturing two pictures of the bobcat’s cozy time on the dog bed, one of the snapshots portrays the wild animal sitting contently in the plush doggy bed, surrounded by various toys. In the other photo, the bobcat lies on the bed and gazes directly at the camera.
A bobcat lounges on a dog bed in San Manuel home Mon. The homeowner, who found it upon returning from work, suspects it entered through an unlocked doggie door. The bobcat escaped before an officer arrived. Don’t handle entrapped/hurt wildlife yourself. Call 623-236-7201 ASAP. pic.twitter.com/zcQFD4m08h
— AZ Game & Fish Dept (@azgfdTucson) March 7, 2023
After the homeowner alerted the authorities, the Arizona Game and Fish officer arrived at the scene, but the bobcat had already fled the premises by then. No harm was inflicted on any parties involved, including the bobcat, dogs, or humans, in association with this occurrence.
The department’s website says, locals should dial the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s assistance hotline for guidance on wild animal interactions, so that a professional wildlife rehabilitator can “evaluate or extract a wild animal.”
The intrusion of bobcats into private residences is not a rare occurrence, as the wild animals often frequent backyards and communities throughout North America, resulting in numerous responses by state wildlife departments.
In an interview with NBC News 5 DFW, In-Sync Exotics, a big cat sanctuary situated in Wylie, Texas, offered advice on how to maintain a safe distance between your home and wild bobcats.
Among this advice is refraining from leaving pet food outside and ensuring that food scraps are not present in outdoor garbage cans. Additionally, the sanctuary suggested that if a bobcat is sighted on your premises and you wish to deter it safely, creating loud sounds and activating sprinklers are typically effective in keeping the animals at bay.
According to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, the majority of the bobcat population can be found in the United States, as these animals are primarily located within the North American continent.