{"id":306434,"date":"2025-11-22T04:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T04:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/306434\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T04:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T04:08:12","slug":"bobcat-captured-on-camera-for-the-first-time-in-harford-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/306434\/","title":{"rendered":"Bobcat captured on camera for the first time in Harford County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-testid=\"text-container\">A northern Harford County landowner checking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/v\/1H4KrwqFY7\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/v\/1H4KrwqFY7\/\">his camera<\/a> footage made an extraordinary discovery: a light-haired bobcat prancing around his property.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"text-container\">The bobcat population in Maryland declined in the late 1800s because of forest and habitat destruction but has since rebounded a bit. Some county residents swear they have been hearing the animals outside their homes for years. <\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"text-container\">But while there have been hundreds of reports of bobcat sightings around Harford County over the years, none have been confirmed, said John Garrison, the conservation director at the Susquehannock Wildlife Society, a nonprofit that works to protect the area\u2019s wildlife and habitat. This camera footage from September is the first time the organization has been able to spot a bobcat for certain in the county. <\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"text-container\">Garrison said is a good sign for the health of the county\u2019s environment. <\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"text-container\">\u201cIt\u2019s a testament to the conservation of bobcats in the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast,\u201d said Garrison. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of conservation efforts underway to make sure their populations can thrive and that habitats are good enough to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"text-container\">Maryland\u2019s Department of Natural Resources confirmed that this was the first verified sighting and added bobcats to the list of flora and fauna in the county, said Garrison. He added that bobcats are native to Maryland, but they mostly live in Garrett, Allegany, Washington and Frederick counties. <\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"text-container\">The wild cats are still considered uncommon in the state, according to the Maryland <a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/pages\/plants_wildlife\/bobcat.aspx\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/pages\/plants_wildlife\/bobcat.aspx\">Department of Natural Resources<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"text-container\">Garrison said it is very rare to hear a bobcat vocalize and often times they make sounds that can be hard to differentiate from other nocturnal animals\u2019 calls. The best way to verify whether or not you\u2019ve seen a bobcat is through capturing them or locating their paw prints.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"text-container\">Bobcats are considered a medium-sized wild cat, with a \u201ctawny color and &#8230; patterns of stripes and spots,\u201d according to the state\u2019s Department of Natural Resources. They also have a distinct \u201cbobbed,\u201d or short, tail.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"text-container\">While it was not immediately clear if the bobcat was part of a larger population that moved to Harford County, Garrison said there\u2019s no reason to fear the predator. Bobcats often stay far away from humans and rarely attack farm animals, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A northern Harford County landowner checking his camera footage made an extraordinary discovery: a light-haired bobcat prancing around&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[3663,79,201],"class_list":["post-306434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-gift-guide","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}