Bobcats May Be Making Comeback In NJ, Experts Say

 A state wildlife expert says a recent bobcat sighting is more evidence that the endangered animal may be making a comeback in New Jersey.,

A Boonton man was in his yard recently when he saw a large cat emerge from behind a tree. John Locke soon realized it was not a common house cat but a bobcat, an animal that used to proliferate in the state.

Mick Valent, the state Department of Environmental Protection's chief zoologist, tells the Daily Record of Parsippany the bobcat is a native species in New Jersey that lives primarily west of Interstate 287 and north of Interstate 80.

Locke's daughter took pictures of the cat before it retreated to the woods.

"It was really fixed on something across the street, and went into the neighbor's driveway," 22-year-old Ali Locke told the newspaper. "That's when I was able to get such good shots. Then it went back into the woods and that was it."

Valent said the cats were once as common in New Jersey as deer, coyote and fox are today, but that they disappeared in the 1970s. He said about 20 were brought from Maine beginning in the late 1970s to repopulate New Jersey and that he believes they've made a comeback.

"The habitat was returning to support them, and since the species is native to the area it's our job to restore the population," he told the newspaper. "They eat small animals like mice, rabbits, squirrels, and birds and have plenty of food."

It's difficult to track bobcats since they generally are reclusive, but the state tracks them from sightings by eyewitnesses and has trained a dog to locate bobcat droppings to test for DNA, Valent said.

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