[WATCH] Man Shares His Rare Footage of Bobcats Playing at Plano, TX Golf Course
Unusual and, frankly, adorable news coming out of Plano, Texas.
Texas man Bryan Hughes captured footage of a bobcat mother and her "kittens" playing and hanging out on a fairway at the Gleneagles Country Club in Plano.
Even though we see bobcats in the state of Texas, it is certainly unusual to see them hanging out in the open where people tend to populate--like on a golf course, for example.
Hughes captured the footage from his backyard which backs up to the course. According to MySanAntonio.com, WFAA reported that "Hughes [...] said that he's seen wildlife before but nothing like the bobcats he spotted last week. He said he took videos of the bobcats to show his grandchildren. The video shows the kittens playing alongside their mother."
"They were playing so much they sometimes fell into the creek water. I was fortunate to see it, and it was awesome to film it." ~Bryan Hughes to WFAA
Although the man was lucky to catch the unusual sighting, Texas Parks and Wildlife says there is a reason for concern.
Rachel Richter with Texas Parks and Wildlife told WFAA that it was luck that Hughes was able to capture such a rare sighting. Some of our wildcat populations in Texas have been struggling as humans continue to expand into what were traditionally wild areas.
However, bobcats may have an advantage, Richter said, because they tend to be more "shy in nature," seem to be adaptable when conditions change and tend to move about more at night. She stressed to WFAA that it's important we don't allow bobcats to become too comfortable around humans.
Here's the video Hughes caught that was shared on Twitter:"We still want to ensure they have a healthy fear of people, and we don't want them making a den in someone's yard." ~Rachel Richter, TX Parks & Wildlife