The legend of the Cross Road bobcat grows.
On Sunday, Sept. 2 – the Sunday during Labor Day weekend – Teresa Wilensky, a friend and her family were sitting on Wilensky's back deck off of Melanie Drive, getting ready for a barbeque. And then there strolled what can only be referred to as the Cross Road bobcat, walking through Wilensky's yard.
“He was just walking around slowly, hunting, looking for his own dinner,” Wilensky said. “He was beautiful.”
Wilensky, whose children are now at least high school age and who doesn’t have any pets, said she isn’t scared about the bobcat at all. Instead, she said she now feels like “part of the in crowd,” as she is one of several people to see the bobcat off of Cross Road.
“If my kids were still little, I’d probably be nervous,” Wilensky said. “But they aren’t, and I don’t have any pets. So I think it is awesome, I think it is very cool.”
In February, about most likely the same bobcat after it was spotted and photographed by William Porter off of Springdale Road. Springdale Road is also off of Cross Road, and very close to Melanie Drive.
About bobcats
According to a fact sheet by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, bobcat sightings should not cause any alarm. According to the DEEP, “bobcat attacks on people are virtually unknown,” although they do pose a small threat to livestock and domestic cats.
Bobcats are solitary animals – meaning most likely the bobcat the Wilenskys saw is the same bobcat Porter saw – that hunt alone in thick cover, according to the DEEP. They have outstanding hearing and vision, and hide patiently and then ambush their prey, according to the DEEP.
Bobcats target smaller animals like squirrels and rabbits, although they occasionally attack deer, according to the DEEP. It is illegal to kill a bobcat, and bobcats almost never spread disease to other animals or humans, according to the DEEP.
“Problems caused by bobcats are too infrequent to justify efforts to reduce populations,” the DEEP's website reads. “Conflicts should be addressed on an individual basis and can often be remedied by preventative methods such as fencing."
