Canada resident spots 'once-in-a-lifetime' baby bobcat perched in her backyard tree

A backyard in Canada briefly became the setting for an unusual wildlife sighting when a bobcat kitten was spotted climbing a tree.

What happened?

After seeing the young bobcat in the tree on June 30, Julie McCaskill shared a photo with the South Okanagan Wildlife Watchers Facebook page.

According to Castanet, the family watched it only briefly before heading back indoors to give the mother a chance to return. They have not seen the kitten or its mom since. 

In the image, the little bobcat is clinging to the trunk and branches of a tree in broad daylight, looking more like an oversized house cat than a wild predator.

McCaskill said that in nine years on their east-bench farmland in Osoyoos, the family had seen deer, coyotes and even a moose, but this was their first bobcat encounter. 

A wildlife photographer who saw her post said he'd been trying for years to catch a photo of one, showing just how rare the sighting was.

Why does it matter?

Bobcats are generally elusive animals, so seeing one up close is rare. Seeing a kitten alone in a residential backyard is even more unusual, although human spaces are increasingly overlapping with wildlife habitat.

As farmland, roads, and housing spread into natural areas, animals are increasingly pushed into spaces such as backyards.

That does not always mean something is wrong, but it can make encounters like this more likely and can raise risks for both people and animals if humans get too close or if pets are nearby.

The safest response to young wild animals is usually to keep a safe distance, reduce noise, and avoid interfering. 

The Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society emphasized in a statement that people shouldn't try to approach a bobcat. Even though they may look adorable, they are still wild animals and don't behave like domestic housecats.

Giving the bobcat space to retreat may have been the best thing McCaskill could have done in the moment.

What are people saying?

Reflecting on it later, McCaskill called the sighting a "once-in-a-lifetime thing!"

"We let our children admire it for a few seconds and went back inside in hopes mom will come back," she added. "This thing is so teeny, half the size of our house cat."

Even in places where people regularly see deer or coyotes, a baby bobcat in a backyard tree still feels extraordinary.

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