The Lake Metroparks Kevin P. Clinton Wildlife Center is again working to rehabilitate a young bobcat, and members of the public can watch the feline roam his enclosure using the park’s public livestream. The bobcat’s new enclosure will give it a chance to develop survival skills during the first year of his life, when he would typically be with his mother, said center Wildlife Care Manager Tammy O’Neil. She expects that the center will care for the bobcat through the spring. “That gives him time to just present and really improve on any of the skills he needs to survive in the wild, because that stuff is very innate in these wild animals,” O’Neil said. She said that the young bobcat was found lying on a road in Jefferson County, Ohio, which lies along the central part of the state’s eastern border. He did not display defensiveness as people approached. “They got it into a travel carrier and they said within like a couple hours, it started – it just looked like it felt better,” O’Neil said. “It was growling at them and hissing and things like that.” She said that he was brought to the wildlife center after the couple that found him investigated and found no sign of the bobcat’s mother nearby. Staff at the wildlife center found him to be weak and underweight, O’Neil said, but they saw no signs of injuries or trauma. A veterinarian visited the bobcat within three days. Staff worked to build his weight up, and he received vaccinations. She added that the bobcat was an “older juvenile” when he arrived, and he was able to eat on his own without needing a supplemental milk formula. She estimated that he was almost 6 months old in early October He spent around a couple of weeks in an enclosure to make sure that he could handle outdoor temperatures and move around well, O’Neil said. He grew quickly during that time and was later moved to his current, larger enclosure. “It’s very large, so he can jump and run and climb and hide and just, he has enough space to really build up his strength, agility, hunting skills, and we have the ability with the cameras to watch him in there to make sure he’s doing well, and we make notes on their behaviors and development, things like that,” she said. While the bobcat is in the enclosure, members of the public can watch him in an online livestream. The livestream can be found by visiting lakemetroparks.com and selecting the “Webcams” option from the top menu. O’Neil said that the livestream will provide members of the public with a look at an “elusive” apex predator. “They’re in a setting that they’re still exhibiting those wild behaviors, and that’s not a chance people get to see very often,” she said. “So, I think people feel like they’re getting to peer into their secret life when they get to watch them on the camera.” O’Neil added that members of the public can also contribute by providing fish and wild game like deer. She advised those who are interested to call the center beforehand at 440-256-1404, extension 2. She also asked that the meat be cut and packaged before being brought to the center. “We’ve gotten a few bobcats now, but it still is always very exciting for us, and it’s nice to know that Ohio still has a very healthy bobcat population, and the population is sustaining itself right now,” she said. While bobcat reports are not as common in Northeast Ohio as they are in the southeastern portion of the state, a 2021 Ohio Division of Wildlife report indicated that there was a sighting reported in Lake County in 2006 and three in Geauga County from 2018-20. Additionally, Cleveland Metroparks reported in 2022 that trail cameras sighted a bobcat on two separate dates that year in Cuyahoga County. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ bobcat webpage states that bobcats disappeared from Ohio by 1850, though they began to return in the following century. O’Neil described vehicle collisions as the “biggest threat” to Ohio’s bobcat population. Most of the bobcat kittens that the wildlife center has treated lost their mother to a vehicle collision. “It’s just nice to still be part of contributing back to that healthy population and helping give back to the bobcat population because, like I said, the biggest threat to them is human impact, so being able to save some of these kittens and get them back out into the wild is really rewarding,” she said.