This is a mini-saga about a bobcat on top of a utility pole in Naples, Florida. Bobcats are quite common in Florida. In this instance drivers cruising along a Florida highway (I-75) near mile marker 78 travelling eastbound, saw a bobcat on top of a utility pole. The cat was scanning the area and seemed calm enough.
It appears that the cat was calmer than the people because someone decided to try and nudge the bobcat down on the assumption that he or she was stuck up there. You can see the picture of a utility worker with a long pole gently nudging the cat.
The cat decided to comply and went down the pole backwards while watched by Florida Wildlife Commission Officers which you can see in another photograph on this page.
Once the cat got down he ran off into the undergrowth. The only question that I have is whether people needed to be involved. I suspect that they didn’t because the cat was well able to get down as demonstrated and appeared calm and unfazed by the whole event.
It’s worth remembering that bobcats are good climbers and will climb a tree if pursued by dogs or if charged by a deer. However, they spend most of their time on the ground. They can also swim well. There’s no reason to believe that the bobcat regarded the utility pole as anything other than a tree which he had climbed perhaps to observe the terrain, to check for possible prey which is commonly a rabbit but sometimes white-tailed deer and snowshoe hares.
The pictures: I argue that they are either in the public domain by now or fair use for educational purposes.
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It’s interesting that wild cats, especially these guys, seem to be much more adept at climbing/descending backwards than house cats.
Interesting point. If it’s true it might be because domestic cats have lost some of their arboreal skills.