On October 10, 2004 I saw what I thought were two baby feral cats on the VanFleet Trail west of Clermont during my 116 mile training ride. I called the park service and left a message for Mike to tell him about them. He just called me back and confirmed that several other people had also seen these baby bobcats. Here is a link to a pic of what I saw: http://www.floridanature.org/photos/Lynx_rufus_floridanus,_Tallahassee,_20011219.jpg
These cats are very cute, fat, and fast. One of them let me get to within about 20 feet before he/she scooted off into the underbrush. I’m not sure they pose much of a danger to humans since these cats don’t get too much bigger than some large domestic Toms.
I would love to take them in. Cats, especially wild ones, fascinate me. I spend hours playing with my two cats- one of which is kinda dumb, but the other is incredibly intelligent for a cat and loves to engage in all kinds of games.
I saw a bobcat last week here in california. I was amazed at how confident it was, not in the least bit intimidated by me. Watched me go by at no more than 10 feet, and looked me right in the eyes. Very cool. Watching it run was also very cool. Like video’s I’ve seen of other larger cats, all four legs moving together out the side of the body. Super athletic looking.
Yes, I have three cats and a dog. Cats are fascinating animals. One of these babies layed on the asphalt scratching his back and looking over his shoulder at me until I got very close. He/she looked curious and smart, but they are sooo bloody cute you’d almost cry.
I ride the trail frequently and think that it is a cool place to see animals I often see lots of deer, alligators, and on the southern section I have seen one of the bobcats too. I had thought that this was a dog until it took off, definitely not a dog. Anyway a very cool place to ride.
I know we’ve got bobcats around here, but I’ve never seen one since they’re allegedly mostly nocturnal.
I live in a medium to largish (about 10,000 people) development that borders Eglin military reservation on two sides. Big parcel of undeveloped land almost the size of Rhode Island and very “here be the dragons”. We do get a good number of large critters wandering down from the reservation from time to time. I know people who have had wild boars trash their landscaping, others who have had bears in their trash cans, or lost pets to coyotes. There are also several families of hawks that nest over by one of the pools, the odd heron in the ponds, and many a vulture has circled overhead while I run.
My wildlife encounter of the summer came one day when I was trying to get a short bike workout in and doing a bunch of five mile loops through suburbia. I got to the golf course club house, and suddenly had to slam on my brakes in order to avoid the fox that was calmly trotting from the driving range across the road to cut into a small bit of woods just past the putting green. Having the typical fox attitude, he just kept going his merry way like “yeah, I’m really the one who owns this place”
Funny. Yeah, foxes are like that. I’ve seen them in the fields and they will often let you come very close and look at you like you are some man from the moon who’s lost his way. Once I fell asleep on a camping trip as a Boy Scout and woke up to a fox sniffing my butt! I screamed bloody murder 'cause I was 12 and didn’t know what the heck it was at first.
We have wild pigs on Van Fleet Trail as well. I raced one last year. He picked up the pace as I came upon him, so I picked up the pace, etc. and soon we were screaming down the trail at both our LT’s. This went on for about .5 of a mile too. Hilarious.
The squirrels on The Fleet are the worst, however. I think I’ve almost killed one about a hundred times. Lots of snakes as well, but nothing serious. The spiders do get very large out there as well, though they seldom get out on the trail.
Old Florida must have been a hoot to live in. I’ll bet getting dinner was pretty easy with the right equipment.
I spend hours playing with my two cats- one of which is kinda dumb, but the other is incredibly intelligent for a cat and loves to engage in all kinds of games.
Dude… you might not want to admit to that
I live in a condo in Delray Beach, with a natural area across the road, and most mornings when I run, I see foxes, not sure if they’re the same ones all the time, but there’s obviously quite a few living in the bush. I guess they feed on all the other little critters living in there too.
My vulture story is when I did my last Gulf Coast, suffering mightily on the run, out in the park with nobody around and the sun beating down as only it can in Panama City, when a shadow on the road announced the presence of a large vulture overhead, and I figured he was just waiting for me to drop! Sort of summed up my day, really.
I think it’s great that we still have some wildlife left in suburbia, despite our best efforts to eradicate them all by building on their space and giving them less and less room to share our world.
If you are talking about the '03 Gulf Coast, then I know exactly what you mean. That was a brutal day. The temps must have been close to 95 degrees and NO SHADE. And the swim was a nightmare. Yes, I remember the park area at the halfway point of the run. A small bit of shade and dead bodies everywhere, er, or so it seemed. A sparrow could have picked me off about then. If I had seen a vulture I would have just surrendered…
That was one of the most difficult races I’ve ever done. Congrats on FINISHING.
I rode this trail in August. I was heading between Tampa and Orlando for a meeting. It was in the afternoon around 95 degrees and I thought there was no way I would see any wildlife. It was unbelievable, 15-20 deer, 40-50 wild turkeys, gopher tortoises, snakes, gators. Very cool ride
Tom Demerly, you do not want to take these animals in unless you want a trashed house in a hurry. They are huge and wild.
A relative of mine in Dearborn always wanted a Civet? cat. They look like the classic Egyption cats and are domesticated, but just barely. Big mistake. They just aren’t domesticated enough. Main problems were they clawed everything and you dont find litter boxes in the wild.
