Last week, a family of bobcats stopped into one lucky Calgarian’s backyard for an afternoon of fun.
While bobcat sightings aren’t exactly unheard of around Calgary—the cats popped up in residents’ backyards on more than one occasion this summer—no one has managed to capture them quite like this.
Darcy Gillis, who lives in the southwest community of Kingsland, found the bobcats playing in his yard last Monday. Though he didn’t expect to see the mother and her two kittens in his neighbourhood, as it’s boarded by two major roads, he says it was a pleasant surprise to find them there.
“They looked right at home,” Gillis told Metro News. “They really seemed comfortable, like they were city cats.”
Gillis and his wife are lucky enough to have seen bobcats before, but they’ve never seen them batting around ornaments in their backyard. Naturally, it prompted Gillis to pull out his camera, which turned out to be a worthwhile decision.
“They weren’t bothered by me at all,” he said. “I was about 15 feet away, just laying on my belly taking photos.”
The mother cat even did a little posing for him, staring directly into Gillis’ lens as he snapped a picture of her.
According to Metro News, there have been a number of bobcat sightings in the Calgary region over the past couple of years and no reported attacks. But despite Gillis’ and other residents’ good fortune, the city’s Animal Services recommends people always keep their distance from wildlife.
