The Buckeye State is seeing another success story unfold with bobcats.
The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is a species that is native to Ohio, and one of seven wild cat species found in North America. Domestic cats belong to the same family, Felidae, as the bobcat.
Once widespread in Ohio, the wild felines became locally extinct in the mid-1800s due to extensive deforestation and unregulated hunting.
Beginning in the 1850s, occasional reports of bobcats surfaced, but prior to 2000, there were never more than five sightings confirmed by the ODNR in a given year, said Lindsey Krusling, a communications specialist with the Division of Wildlife.
In the early 2000s, sightings began to steadily rise, and since 2019, the division has confirmed over 500 reports annually.
The confirmed sightings have spanned 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties. In 2024, there were 777 sightings, according to the department’s most recent data.
Reports of bobcats are most common in southern areas of the state between September and January, according to Krusling.
This time period coincides with when young bobcats begin dispersing from their mothers in the fall, and when their breeding season starts in January.
Krusling attributed the bobcats’ rising population in Ohio to habitat restoration, as forested areas are currently expanding in the eastern United States.
“Bobcats, they are very cryptic species, where they are mostly nocturnal, they don’t like to be seen, so they prefer those forested areas,” Krusling said. “As we have kind of re-established our forest here in Ohio, that has caused a dramatic increase for them.”