Bobbing For Goats
A Pennsylvania man had to shoot a bobcat that was indulging in the sport of bobbing for goats. Or bob-catting for goats, as the case may be. Jesse Stuver was alerted by a neighbor that a bobcat was munching on one of his pet goats, grabbed a pistol and went out to dispatch the predator.
“My neighbor ran inside and yelled that a bobcat is attacking one of my goats,” he said. “I got my pistol and ran outside.”
When he got outside, his neighbor told him the bobcat was in the barn. The bobcat was on the back of his mother goat. The rest of his herd, including one of the mother’s babies, were hiding in the corner of the fence outside the barn.
“The bobcat was standing 6 to 8 feet away, growling,” he said. “The growl sounds like a dog growl, not like a mountain lion.”
When he entered the barn, the female bobcat, which he estimates weighed between 45 to 50 pounds, was biting the goat.
“I shot the bobcat and killed it,” he said.
Bobcats are pretty rare in that part of Pennsylvania. I think I mentioned this once, but I was sitting out on my front step with a cup of coffee a few years ago, enjoying the sunrise, when I saw something moving across my neighbor's yard. After a few moments I realized it was a bobcat. It padded across the yard, looked at me for a moment from across the road, then wandered off, heading south down the road.
Now I wonder if it was scouting for goats.
By rightwingprof, Monday, 14 January , 2008 @ 6:06 am
That’s only about 90 miles from here. I haven’t seen any bobcats, but we have cougars. And bears, of course. Lots of bears.
By NortonPete, Monday, 14 January , 2008 @ 8:26 am
This is one animal I have never seen in the wild. Wikipedia has a range map that shows a narrow band right through the center of PA. I’m guessing it has something to do with the Allegheny mountain range.
By martian, Monday, 14 January , 2008 @ 9:39 am
My wife, the ex-zookeeper, once had a bobcat fall out of a tree in a zoo exhibit and land on her (my wife’s that is) head. Scary but it seems to have scared the bobcat as much as it did her because he just scooted back up the tree. Or maybe he just left her alone because (thank God) she doesn’t look like a goat.