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Bobcat Spotted, Trapped In Backyard Of Scottsdale Home
A bobcat was trapped and taken to the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center on Wednesday after a Scottsdale man found it in his backyard.
Jack Leadbeater, who lives near East Via Linda and 120th Place, noticed the bobcat in his backyard on Monday morning when he was checking on his sprinkler system. The bobcat had dug a hollow under some grapefruit trees in the corner of the backyard, Leadbeater said.
Leadbeater said he feared his two small dogs would make an "ideal snack" for the cat, so he called Critter Control to come take the animal.
Wes Patrick, the operator of the Phoenix chapter of Critter Control, put out a trap for the bobcat Tuesday morning.
He attached a device to the cage that makes chirping sounds to entice the bobcat.
"As they say, curiosity killed the cat," Patrick said. "The bobcats hear the chirping sounds and come over to check it out."
Patrick said he also put a pigeon wing inside the cage for the bobcat. When the bobcat enters the cage, it triggers a device that drops the cage door down.
The bobcat was caught on Wednesday morning, just 24 hours after Patrick set up the trap.
"I was pretty amazed by how quickly the bobcat was caught," Leadbeater said.
According to Patrick, it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks to catch the animals. It depends on how often the animal returns to the location.
Patrick believes the bobcat is a 1-year-old female. The Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center, which operates a wildlife sanctuary and rehabilitation center in northeast Scottsdale, will release the bobcat back into the wild.
"I spend a lot of time outdoors and it's nice to see an animal like this caught humanely," Leadbeater said. "She can be relocated in a fashion where they don't have to kill her."
Patrick typically encounters bobcats several times a year, but "we're getting more calls this year than we normally do," he said. "I have bobcat traps setup at two other palaces right now."
Credits: By Meghan McCarthy - AZCentral.com
