A resident of Oenoke Ridge Road this week reported the first recorded sighting of a bobcat in six months.
This bobcat was photographed in October 2015 after tripping an outdoor camera off of Oenoke Ridge Road near Turtle Back. Published with permission of the photograph’s owner
Photographed last week by tripping an outdoor camera in the woods near Oenoke at Turtle Back, with a small animal of some kind clutched firmly in its mouth, it’s one of two verified bobcats in New Canaan: There’s one that travels the Ponus Ridge corridor on the western side of town and another in the area of Gerdes Road.
“It is a needed predator,” Animal Control Officer Allyson Halm said of the extremely reclusive felines. “They will help with the geese population. They are going to take down the smaller animals. I would assume they may even take a fawn in the spring so anything that can help keep nature’s balance and predators will do that.”
She added: “Mice and rats are their staple—that’s the popcorn at the movies.”
Bobcats generally avoid developed areas, officials say, keeping one main den and perhaps additional ones—making them very difficult to photograph. The animals rarely cause problems for humans, officials say, though they may sometimes prey on smaller animals such as shrews, as Halm noted, as well as rabbits, raccoons and deer.
A bobcat was spotted in early April on Wahackme Road, and a bobcat kitten that had been seen about one year ago on Deep Valley Road was not seen again. In July 2014, a bobcat was seen on Lukes Wood Road, and this past February a rare photo of a bobcat was captured on Jelliff Mill Road.