Skip to footer

Why are bobcats returning to New Hampshire?

University of New Hampshire wildlife biologists are investigating why the state's bobcat population has rebounded, despite a sharp drop in rabbits and other typical prey.

|
Courtesy of Judy Berens
Bob, a bobcat, at the Panther Ridge Conservation Center in Wellington, Fla., in 2008.

The bobcat population continues to steadily rise in New Hampshire, leaving researchers scratching their heads over the rather large felines' comeback. 

Despite a declining population of rabbits and other prey, the number of bobcats in the state has reached as many as 1,400, according to University of New Hampshire (UNH) biologists.  

Now, researchers are looking into the ways that changes in land use, such as an increase in development and human activity, have affected the bobcat population in New Hampshire and the northern New England region. 

"Recent population increases suggest that bobcats are adapting to a changing environment," Marian Litvaitis, a professor of natural resources and the environment at UNH and a leader of the study, told the Associated Press. "Identifying the pathways of this success may provide insight into understanding how ecosystems can remain relatively intact as human populations continue to expand." 

Scientists are interested in whether bobcats who live in more developed areas experience higher amounts of stress, Dr. Litvaitis said. 

"Increased stress has been associated with a decreased immune response and decreased reproductive success in animal populations," she explained. "Ultimately this may allow for projections about the general health of the bobcat population." 

According to a study by UNH researchers, bobcats have made a dramatic return to New Hampshire since nearly going extinct in the 1980s. In 1989, fewer than 150 were thought to have survived. 

One theory for the bobcats' comeback is that the animals have adapted their diets to feed on different types of prey, such as turkeys or squirrels, biologists said. Another possible factor could be the state ending its last bobcat hunting season in 1989. 

The now-booming population caused the state Fish and Game Commission to consider bringing back a limited hunting and trapping season, for which 50 bobcat permits would be issued through a lottery. But the proposal was criticized by opponents who feared that a bobcat hunt would lower the population once again.

"There are not too many bobcats and they are not causing trouble," Suzanne Fournier of Milford, N.H., who picketed outside the the Fish and Game Headquarters in early 2015 to protest the potential hunt, told WMUR. "The public has barely had a chance to see them." 

Legislators eventually withdrew the proposal in April of this year, after a committee of state House and Senate members, known as the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR), objected to proposed rules for the hunt.

When asked whether the canceled hunt was a victory for bobcats in the state, Glenn Normandeau, executive director of the Fish and Game Department, said the long-term effect on the bobcat population was impossible to know. 

"The problem with all of these questions about wildlife is that the answer to whether they won or not, you find out in 20 years, not today," he told NewHampshire.com. 

This report contains material from the Associated Press. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Why are bobcats returning to New Hampshire?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/1017/Why-are-bobcats-returning-to-New-Hampshire
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe