Cape Breton man has close encounter with bobcat

Is it a bird? No, it's a Cape Breton bobcat A Cape Breton man had a close encounter with a bobcat on his property this weekend.

For more than 40 years, Harry Pollett has lived in East Bay, N.S., but this weekend is the first time he's had an encounter with a bobcat.

“Yesterday morning, I saw two animals racing towards the water and I thought they were two dogs and a little later I looked out and the dog has another animal, which I thought was a bird up in the tree,” Pollet told CTV News on Sunday.

It wasn't a bird. It turns out the neighbour’s dog had chased the large cat up and into Pollett's backyard tree.

The retired doctor quickly grabbed his binoculars to take a closer look.

“I was really glad to see it in the area because we had a major problem in the house where some squirrels got in and took some insulation away and caused some pipes to freeze and caused some serious damage in our basement, so as far as I’m concerned, that's a welcomed attention to the neighbourhood,” said Pollett.

Bobcats are familiar felines for the folks at Hope For Wildlife.

“Nova Scotia has a healthy population of bobcats and we see them quite often. Wherever there's snowshoe hares, you're probably going to find bobcats not too far behind,” said founder Hope Swinimer,

Swinimer says she hasn't seen an increase in the bobcat population, but she says they do see a rise in numbers after a really rough winter.

Caring for the animals are a speciality for the staff at Hope for Wildlife.

“They're more scared of you than you are of them, so they will try and avoid you. It's good to discourage them, like don't leave out cat food, or garbage, that reduces the chances a lot of them coming to your property and hanging out,” said Swinimer.

For Pollett and his neighbours, it's not their first time coming in contact with wildlife.

“We had another time where there was a seal out on the road and a police car stopped to make sure nobody would run the seal over and the wildlife people came along and put it back in the water somewhere,” said Pollett.

Pollett says, for now, the bobcat is the talk of the neighbourhood.

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