Now That Is Scary!!!!!!

 An old family friend phoned mom this afternoon....this friend lives (directly across the street from the restaurant where we ate dinner) on a lovely, large, heavily treed corner lot. 

She called to chat because she was bored from being trapped in her house all day....literally trapped, all doors and windows tightly shut, because very early this morning she discovered three young bobcats and their mother living in her back yard. Yes, you read that correctly: bobcats in her backyard!!!!!!

When she went to her garden at 7am she found several squirrel tails in the remains of what had been her rows of spinach and small remains of dead mice in her newly flattened rhubarb patch. Across the back lawn was a trail of animal feces and more semi devoured bits of mouse in the front yard grass. She cleaned up the mess on the grass, then went to work ripping up the spinach plants. She was on her hands and knees pulling stalks when out from under leaves in the next row came three baby bobcats, not more than a couple of weeks old. To say she was startled is an understatement! Then she heard a rustling behind her, turned and saw mama bobcat slinking toward her in a stalking position from the other side of the yard. Our friend shrieked, startling mama bobcat just long enough that she stopped moving for the two seconds it took our friend to leap up, not easy for an 83 year old, and run into her house. Aaaargh!!!!

She immediately contacted all her neighbours to warn them, then she called both animal control and Alberta Fish and Wildlife, only to discover neither organization will come to collect bobcats...too dangerous. Aiiii yiiiii.....too dangerous for THEM??? What about our friend??? Knowing a fair amount about bobcats myself, I understand the reluctance of people in both organizations to try to capture adult bobcats, plus relocating them will be a huge issue. I can only pray for my friend and her neighbours that someone from Fish and Wildlife who deals more often with mountain wild animals will be located and have a better idea of what to do. 

Guess I will stop complaining about my own neighbourhood’s geese....ya’ think???? Yup.....