The Future of Bobcats in East-Central Ohio

Meet at the BFEC Resource Center. The charismatic bobcat is an ecologically important top-predator native to Ohio. As a result of habitat loss and over-hunting, the species was believed to have been driven to extinction in the state by the mid-1800s. Occasional sightings indicated the wild cat was returning by the 1960s, and in 1974 it was one of the first species listed as endangered in Ohio. Over the next few decades, confirmed reports of bobcats in Ohio gradually rose, and by 2014, they were removed from the state threatened and endangered species list. In this lecture, Dr. Shauna Weyrauch (Department of Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University at Newark) will discuss the early findings of “Project Wild Coshocton,” a long-term camera-trapping study of the bobcat population in Coshocton and southern Holmes counties. She will share candid photos of wildlife captured through the project and discuss the outlook for east-central Ohio’s bobcats. FREE.