I just saw a bobcat at SSR!

[Mr_Potts]

We're having a great time at SSR and love our villa on the first floor at Congress Park facing Fultons. For the second day in a row we saw a bobcat at dawn. Never in my life did I expect to see one. Here especially. Is this a common sighting at SSR? It seemed to be hunting along the edges of shrubbery for rabbits.

 

[castleri]

I seem to remember that someone posted about one last year at SSR. Guess it finds enough to eat to keep it in the same area if it is indeed the same one.

 

[zalansky]

When we were at the Treehouses earlier this month, our boat driver told us that there were bobcats living on the grounds there. We kinda sorta didn't believe it - but now I do!

 

[skelooch]

I once (about a year and a half ago) saw a large type cat come out of the woods at BCV, it was about 2am so I couldn't positively identify what it was, but perhaps it could have been bobcat. By the time I went to get my camera it had disappeared. It was a lightish brown color with a long tail and approx twice the size of a typical house cat.
I think about it every time I return from EPCOT at night via the pathway behind the BC.

 

[Ln42]

Hi there,
We have a bobcat in our area. They are like what you describe except they have a short tail.

 

[Robin"D"]

We're having a great time at SSR and love our villa on the first floor at Congress Park facing Fultons. For the second day in a row we saw a bobcat at dawn. Never in my life did I expect to see one. Here especially. Is this a common sighting at SSR? It seemed to be hunting along the edges of shrubbery for rabbits.

as Pete as says, "Stay out of the Damn lakes" and now SSR @ dawn....


Robin & Angel "D"

 

[TisBit]

and this helps answer the "where are the birds/ducks" question

 

[rentayenta]

and this helps answer the "where are the birds/ducks" question

 

[laughinplace199]

When we were at the Treehouses earlier this month, our boat driver told us that there were bobcats living on the grounds there. We kinda sorta didn't believe it - but now I do!

You didn't believe what your boat driver told you?! Everyone knows that boat drivers have the most accurate info. in WDW! Next thing you'll be telling us that you don't believe the bus drivers either...

 

[LIFERBABE]

and this helps answer the "where are the birds/ducks" question

Exactly!!

 

[alldiz]

I saw one at OKW chilling on my balcony......pretty cool.
Kerri

 

[Ronald Duck]

I saw one at OKW chilling on my balcony......pretty cool.
Kerri

Well, move over bobcat...here we come

 

[lisareniff]

I was thinking this was a pool construction thread!!! Bobcat -- you know - one of those mini bulldozers.

 

[disneychic]

Yep, my mom and I saw him when we stayed in CP @ SSR last month! It was right around sun down, and he was lurking around the bushes near bldg. 21

 

[granmanh603]

I seem to remember that someone posted about one last year at SSR. Guess it finds enough to eat to keep it in the same area if it is indeed the same one.

That would be me, but I didn't know what it was and some people made fun of me so glad someone else has seen it...it was lurking in the shrubbery in front of room facing water...we had seen rabbits there and figured it might be searching for them...

 

[Disneypirate85]

and this helps answer the "where are the birds/ducks" question

LOL....yes yes it does! Shawn

 

[manning]

We were on the ferry going back to OKW. We were in the canal to OKW and there was the bobcat walking down the path like it owned it. When we went past it it just looked at us and kept walking.

 

[csharpwv]

I thought it was really awesome when we saw 6-8 otters rollicking and playing around the waters edge at OKW when we were there over labor day weekend. I had such a great time watching the, playing and rolling around - I watched for them every morning after that, but I only saw them the one morning.

Now I will have my eyes on lookout for a bobcat!

 

[drusba]

The Florida Lynx (bobcat) is a little smaller than you find elsewhere but very common. They are not spotted more often around WDW simply because they are mainly nocturnal. They will not attack unless you corner or force them.

 

[JimMIA]

I once (about a year and a half ago) saw a large type cat come out of the woods at BCV, it was about 2am so I couldn't positively identify what it was, but perhaps it could have been bobcat. By the time I went to get my camera it had disappeared. It was a lightish brown color with a long tail and approx twice the size of a typical house cat.
I think about it every time I return from EPCOT at night via the pathway behind the BC.

It's possible that you saw a Florida Panther. The color and long tail are right. Bobcats don't look anything like you described - they have a very short tail and long rear legs that give them a jacked-up appearance and bouncy gait.

A Florida Panther should be quite a bit larger than you describe, however. An adult female would weigh 100 pounds or so, and an adult male would weigh 150-160. OTOH, they are built very low to the ground and sometimes appear smaller than they really are.

It would not surprise me to learn that there are panthers in the WDW area, although it is not normally considered part of their range. Frankly, I think the slowly expanding panther population and development in South Florida are causing dispersal northward through the less-developed center of the state and I wouldn't be surprised to see a panther pop up anywhere in north-central Florida.

A few years ago, we had a radio-collared adult female who went from the southern portion of Everglades National Park (near Homestead) all the way north of I-4 between Disney and Lakeland. She went back and forth across I-4 several times, and then her collar battery died and we lost track of her. However, there has never been any reported mortality of an adult female in that area, and we have never recovered the collar -- so as far as we know, she's still out there somewhere.