![]() ![]() Stolzenburg discusses the history of predator persecution at the hands of European settlers and frontier people who pushed westward, resulting in their near-eradication from the United States. ![]() But interwoven with this story is a history lesson. The book chronicles the travels of a young male cougar, who ventured from the Black Hills of South Dakota eastward in search of his own territory and a mate, traveling over two thousand miles, only to ultimately collide with an SUV on a highway in Connecticut. I recently read a book entitled Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat’s Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg 1 (which I highly recommend to anyone interested in the natural history of cougars, or predators in general). As I have gone about this project, interacting with curious citizens and students, a common question I’ve encountered is “Why are bobcats important?” So I wanted to dedicate this post to discussing the ecological value of predators like bobcats, and the benefits we may derive from having them around.įirst, to appreciate and hold valuable what appears to be a recovering bobcat population in Coshocton County, we need to come to terms with how much of our wild natural heritage we’ve lost. Project Wild Coshocton is entering its 5 th year of camera trapping, with the goal of gaining better information on the distribution and population dynamics of bobcats at the north-western end of their range in Ohio. ![]()
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