I was just FOUR FEET from a bobcat

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  • Hkindiana

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    Sep 19, 2010
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    At 2:00 PM today I stepped out of my back door and there was a bobcat laying in the gravel FOUR FEET (I measured) from me. When he jumped up to run I noticed that his back legs were not operating correctly and he was kind of running sideways with a drunken gate. I figured that it either had rabies or had been hit by a car, so I called the DNR to see if I could legally trap it for either rehab or to be tested for rabies. The lady who answered the phone at the DNR said that there has not been a single case of rabies in Indiana in over twenty years (I sure didn’t know that). She also said that there are no rehabbers in Indiana that will take bobcats. She suggested that I just let nature take its course, but I hate to see an animal needlessly suffering. Even if it survives its apparent wounds, it will just starve to death. Looks like I will be carrying my handgun at all times now, in case it decides that I may make an easy meal. The DNR lady said that under no circumstances am I allowed to shoot it, but if it comes after me, I would think that would be a different story.
     

    Hkindiana

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    Update:

    I just googled “rabies in Indiana” and found out that the last HUMAN rabies case in Indiana was in 2006, but rabies is found in bats in Indiana EVERY YEAR, so the DNR lady did not know what she was talking about. The bobcat has been hanging around my back yard for the last hour and there is definitely something wrong with its back legs. I looked up the symptoms of “distemper”, and it sounds like he may have that (if he wasn’t hit by a car). With distemper, he has a 50/50 chance of surviving, but possibly with permanent paralysis. Maybe he will make it, I’ll just have to wait and see.
     

    WanderingSol07

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    Never saw an animal with distemper until this last winter. Had a raccoon walking around our bird feeders around 10 AM. He was going in 10' circles with a drunken gait. Have a slight hill in the back and he fell/slid down the snow to the bottom where he continued doing circles. I call our regional animal control guy and he came out and shot it with his .22lr revolver. Then double bagged the coon and took it to a local vet that does incineration.
     

    Hkindiana

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    That would have been cool as all get out! Too bad that it is having issues. Do you think it might be the one you had a while back?

    The other sighting was at my other place half a mile away, and that cat appeared perfectly healthy. If it IS the same animal, he has either been hit, or gotten sick since then.
     

    Grogmister

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    I think I would call the DNR back and hope to find someone else to ask. I cannot believe the Conservation Officer assigned to your county won’t come and at least check things out. The COs up in the northeast part of the state are great about stuff like this. Being it’s a bobcat I’m guessing your not in the NE part of the state.
     

    68NOVA

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    giphy.webp
     

    Hatin Since 87

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    just curious, is he still hanging around your back yard? I would call dnr and talk to somebody more knowledgeable, that lady sounds like she had no clue what she was talking about and didn’t care.
     

    Grogmister

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    Looks to me like he has been hit by a car and possibly has/had a broken leg or hip. Not as bad as I was expecting to see.
     
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