 Bobcat digs |
 Beautiful face |
 Bobcat and deer |
Nine years ago today little Holly during the holidays, stepped out of her box, and as Sharon Herrell says, “went from a frightened skinny yearling to a now over-confident matriarch who rules her enclosure with an iron paw,” adding “I love this sweet little girl bear.” Someone brought back a memory for me by sending the picture of her arrival at eleven months of age, looking tiny compared to the two pictures Sharon sent of her taken nine years later in October of this year.
 Holly - Oct. 2022 |
 Holly Arrives - 2013 |
 Holly - Oct. 2022 |
At the WRI today, the little bobcat was the center of attention for me and deer. This cat that all the books tell me is named Bob kept the deer at bay by digging where the deer wanted to eat. He just kept digging slowly, deeper into the very hard snow. I thought he must be confused by the lingering smell of a frozen ball of turkey skin and giblets that had fallen there a couple days ago, so I didn’t have a camera for the moment he put his head deep into the hole and came up with the ball of turkey. The way he looks at me makes me think he is beginning to consider me an inconsequential critter who clicks a camera but is not a threat—like the bears thought of me when I began walking with them back in the mid-1980’s. It makes me feel good not to be considered an evil threat and be allowed to see what they are doing. At one point, he looked up and gave the birds and squirrels scrambling around on the second floor deck an open-mouthed look I didn’t understand. At least it let us see what his teeth look like.
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center