A new study shows that bobcats are thriving and spreading out in New Hampshire.
The four-year survey by the University of New Hampshire and scientists from the state's Fish and Game Department shows that between 800 and 1,200 of the secretive cats now call the entire state home.
That compares to between 100 and 150 bobcats in the mid-1980s that lived mainly amid the rocky outcroppings of rugged southwestern New Hampshire.
Lead researcher John Litvaitis, a professor of natural resources and the environment at UNH, says several things likely contributed to the rebound. The state closed the hunting season for the cats in 1989 and there's been an explosion in the number of wild turkeys in the state, a favorite prey of the bobcat.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
