There are more of them out there, and closer to us, than you would
think. I used to live in a town of appx. 23,000 people, one block off
the main street through town. When I got home late, I routinely
scared a bobcat out of the dumpster of our apartment complex; he'd
leap out and run when my headlights would shine on the dumpster as I
turned in.

I live in a very small town (pop appx. 3,000) in a fairly large county
that's mostly rural, and it's not uncommon to see a bobcat running
across the road. The local police have said that you could be
*amazed* at the wildlife roaming the street in the middle of the
night. Bobcats, coyotes, the occasional bear, etc.

Krista, if that happened here, every Bubba with a 12-gauge would march on the
Capitol hollering "Overpopulation!" and have an open season on them declared.
My dad is a rancher, and he is amazingly tolerant of coyotes/bobcats. If a
newborn calf gets killed, he just shrugs and says, "You have to expect to lose
a few." He never lets the coyote-hunters on his land.
Back to the Bubba-hunters, there's a restaurant here that has 2 stuffed bobcats
on the counter as "trophies." I ate there once and marched my butt to the
manager and told him I thought dead cats as decor was disgusting. DH was quite
embarrassed.
It's such a no-win. Bobcats are such magnificent creatures and you have to
respectt them just for survivinng on their own. But they can be so dangerous,
too, when they start coming into populated areas and getting so bold.

Sherry