Long Island

Rare, Possible Bobcat Sighting Reported on Long Island: What to Know

A bobcat is twice the size of your average housecat. It can kill prey much bigger than itself, leveraging its stealth and pouncing skills for deadly strikes from 10 feet away

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A wild cat of some sort, possibly a bobcat, might be running loose on Long Island.

Suffolk County cops said Wednesday that they got a call about a rogue feline near Boulevard Avenue in West Islip around 10:40 a.m. the day before. They responded but couldn't locate the animal.

"This thing was huge! It was huge and looked very exotic and you don’t see those animals around here," said Diane Huwer, who was about to feed her cats Tuesday morning when she spotted the feline. She said it looked to be about twice the size of a fox.

"At first I thought it was a lion," Huwery said. "When I ran into the house, he charged across my deck after my feral. I came out and I started yelling, he stopped looked at me, I ran back in the house and he sat there for a few seconds. He proceeded to the cat food, I guess it wasn’t to his gourmet taste."

Luke Hunter, of the Wildlife Conservation Society, said he's "99 percent sure" it is a Eurasian lynx, and not a bobcat. Neither are native to the area, and the Eurasian lynx typically is seen in Europe, parts of Asia and Siberia and the Himalayas, among other isolated locations. 

"I'm pretty sure someone is breaking the law to own this animal," Hunter said.

Animal experts said all non-domestic cats are considered dangerous animals, and can't be owned without a proper license. As of Wednesday, no one has reported the cat missing. Suffolk County police said there was also a wild cat sighting in West Islip, but it was not clear if it was the same feline.

Anyone else who sees the animal is advised to call 911 or the non-emergency police number, 631-852-COPS.

"I don’t advise anyone get close to it all," said Frankie Floridia, of the Strong island Animal Rescue League. "If you see anything, call the police and let the professionals handle it."

If the critter does turn out to be a bobcat, it would be a rare appearance for the animal on Long Island, Suffolk County SPCA President Roy Gross told Newsday. Gross told the paper he wasn't aware of any other bobcat sighting on Long Island, though he said bears, poisonous snakes and even alligators have been spotted in its counties in the past.

According to Gross, any bobcat on the loose likely would have been someone's pet and escaped. And if that's what happened, people in the area should be careful.

"If there is a bobcat out there, certainly do use caution," he told Newsday. "They're generally not going to bother people, but they certainly could with small pets or children."

The bobcat, also known as Lynx rufus, is a fierce predator roughly twice the size of your average housecat. Most have a black-tipped tail and white underbelly and brownish red fur, according to National Geographic. Its tail is bobbed, hence its name. And it can kill prey much bigger than it, leveraging its stealth and pouncing skills for deadly strikes from 10 feet away.

Bobcats weigh up to 30 pounds and can be up to 41 inches long -- 48 if you include the long end of the tail range.

According to National Geographic, there may be more than 1 million bobcats in the United States. The animal is native to North America and while the largest U.S. populations are out west in states like California and Arizona, other states, like Georgia, for example, have seen rising bobcat populations over the last decade, too, according to reports.

Patrols were boosted earlier this year in New York's Westchester County after sightings.

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