Video of 4 bobcats in suburban area shows healthy population

WILLISTON, Vt. – Vermont’s top wildlife official says an amateur video of four bobcats frolicking in a suburban neighbourhood shows that the state’s population of the normally elusive animals is healthy.

Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter says bobcats are rarely seen, but their presence in Williston, just outside Burlington, shows they can live among people.

John Roberts, of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, says he spotted the four bobcats from the window of his office midmorning Tuesday.

The area is a mix of homes, small businesses and small industrial buildings.

Roberts says the area has a lot of rabbits and squirrels, traditional prey for the bobcats.

Biologists estimate there are between 2,500 and 3,000 bobcats in Vermont.