URBAN BOBCATS: Feline city slickers. We introduce you to 
these cultured cats on Passport to Texas.

This is Passport to Texas

According to the US Census Bureau, the Dallas-Ft. Worth 
metro area leads the nation in population growth. But this 
growth has fragmented wildlife habitat, and as a result 
wildlife have become more visible. Now sightings of one 
particular species has citizens concerned.

05�There have been some neighborhoods in the DFW area that 
have seen a lot of bobcats. 

Richard Heilbrun [HILE-brun] is the urban wildlife 
program leader at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

11� If you�re in an urban area and you happen to see a bobcat, 
the most important thing you can do is to stop and enjoy the 
moment. Keep your distance. Take a photo, but don�t approach 
it. The bobcat will probably run away.   

To answer growing public inquiry, Texas Parks and 
Wildlife partnered with Utah State University to capture 
and study urban bobcats.

22�We caught 12 bobcats in the middle of the metroplex and 
we radio-collared 10 of them. And we followed them for a year. 
We found out that bobcats are good at living in the city. They 
use greenbelts and golf courses, cemeteries, river corridors, 
and when you stitch all those habitats together they actually 
form a functioning ecosystem for a wide variety of wildlife.

Understanding urban bobcats is an important first step in 
achieving a conflict-free coexistence with humans.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series and 
funds bobcat research in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife�I�m Cecilia Nasti. 





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