The Bobcat can be found across North America. Their scientific name is 'Lynx Rufus'; and they are a mammal which belongs to the cat family. They are a carnivorous species; meaning that their diet solely depends of meat, or the flesh of another animal. Usually, they hunt hares or rabbits, so their main diet consists of these two species. Although, Bobcats are known to eat other animals, such as; Bats, Rats, and Rodents. They have a variate of different habitats. They can be found in mountain ranges, and forests, for examples, they can also be found in semi-deserts.
When they are left to live alone, without a threat to them by humans (through poaching, hunting etc), they can live quite long lives for a wild animal. When they are left alone, they can live an impressive 12-13 years, which is impressive because that is about the average life of a domestic cat (if not a little bit longer). Their population is between 750,00 and just over 1 million.
The Bobcat is not essentially critically endangered, or even endangered, there are many other species which are closer to extinction that this cat, however, the threats towards the Bobcat are increasing. And, you guessed it, the Bobcat is threatened because of human activity.
There is increasing concentrated effort to save, and protect the Bobcat, from hunting. Laws have been brought in to stop the hunting of these cats, in states such as; California. However, there are places in which the laws are being eroded, which protected the Bobcat, in places such as; Oregon, Washington, Utah, and New Mexico. For example, in New Mexico, they have passed a bill which states that traps can be allowed to trap cats. In New Hampshire, they are considering legalizing Bobcat hunting. Florida, which has a critical number of Bobcats, only 150 survive in the wild in Florida, wants the power to kill animals (including the Bobcat), which comes ''into conflict with humans''. Whereas, in Illinois, which has had a 42 year ban on Bobcat hunting, has seen that overturned, which now allows those in Illinois to hunt the Bobcat.
These are just a few stories of how the Bobcat is being put under pressure, and being persecuted by humans. Their numbers are not really that strong, and with an increase in persecution of these cats, and more legalized hunting of the Bobcat, means that their numbers could deteriorate quickly, putting them in the future into a vulnerable, and endangered position. If we can learn anything from the history of humans hunting and persecuting animals, its that those activities can quickly deteriorate the numbers of such an animal. For example, the Tiger in 100 years has gone from 100,000 Tigers in the wild, to around only 3,000 animals, or the Hedgehog in Britain which had 50 million in the 1950s to now just 1 million Hedgehogs. This highlights, especially the latter with Hedgehogs, how quickly human activity and behavior can have a detrimental impact on wildlife.
The Bobcat isn't considered ''endangered'', ''critically endangered'', or even ''vulnerable'', however, when you considered that the human population is now 7 billion, and set to grow to billions more in the future, 750,000 to 1 million Bobcats is not a lot of Bobcats, and that is why they need laws which protect them, not laws which are aimed at persecution, and killing them. They need laws which protect their habitats, and making sure that they are not eroded, or ''developed'' on. They need our protection, and help.