Curious bobcat pokes head into Okanagan home

VERNON – A curious animal believed to be a bobcat stuck its head inside a Vernon home recently.

Conservation officer Tanner Beck says a homeowner in the Silver Star Road area left her door open around 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 and a bobcat 'poked its head in to see what was going on.’

“It just looked in the open door and took off,” Beck says.

The animal was described as having markings consistent with a bobcat’s, although conservation officers aren’t 100 per cent sure that’s what it was.

No pets or livestock have been attacked by a bobcat in the area, but Beck says in general, it’s a good idea to take precautions like bringing small pets indoors during dawn, dusk and overnight when predators are typically the most active. If you see a bobcat, you're advized to scare it off. 

“They (bobcats) aren’t something dangerous to people unless people are putting themselves in a situation they shouldn’t be,” Beck says.

Bobcats typically hunt rodents like mice and ground squirrels and aren’t an uncommon sight in the North Okanagan. Just last January, a Kelowna resident discovered a bobcat inside his garage and captured an incredible picture of it through the window.

“Just like a house cat, bobcats are naturally very curious,” Beck says.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.