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Possible bobcat sighting in Willoughby

Resident spotted the large cat and says she has never seen one in her area before.
29710langleyHooverbobcat
Hoover

 

There may be a bobcat currently prowling around the Willoughby area, said one resident who thinks she spotted the beautiful creature on July 19.

Shirley Nielson said her daughter first spotted the large, marked cat walking at the back of their two and a half acre property at 20152 82 Ave.

She went out and saw the cat for herself.

“It was brown, the size of an average dog with pokey ears, white tufts at the ears and a bobbed tail,” said Nielsen.

“We’ve lived here since 1989 and have never seen a bobcat or a lynx. We see plenty of deer and coyotes.”

She believes that with all the development along 208 Street,  wildlife is being pushed out of areas that were once heavily treed.

Another resident, Patricia Tallman, has been asking for a wildlife corridor for that area and has been collecting data about the amount of roadkill along that Willoughby road since it was redeveloped.

Elsewhere in Langley,  there have been cougar sightings in the Newlands area, but no other recorded bobcat sightings, except for at Critter Care wildlife rehabilitation centre.

There, Hoover, the bobcat, is a resident and ambassador for the not-for-profit rehab centre. Hoover, now 11, came to Langley as a baby plucked from Whistler by a woman who thought she could keep her as a pet. It was too late to return her to the wild, so she now resides in a heavily wooded enclosure on the South Langley property.



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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