Party, your picture made me laugh out loud!! All the kitties are so beautiful!! So here are mine.

Past

and Present

Another close encounter with a bobcat. They can become amazingly unafraid of humans, even in rural wilderness areas. This one was the oncoming traffic on a dirt road. It stopped about sixty feet away, sat down to stare at me briefly, got up and marked a bush, then just calmly proceeded to walk pasted me, no more than 6' away from where I stood. As you can see, I was judged so not a threat, that it isn't even looking at me at this point!

This has turned into a kitty thread, so here's Roxie in a large flower pots. She loves pots and boxes, and the kitty carrier.

Queen Maggie Moo, warmer of the pillows, in all her calico softness. Sweetness personified.

A random cat that visited the house we were staying in on Block Island.

Love all of the beautiful kitty pictures. That bobcat is stunning but I sure would not be out of my car.

Gyr, that was quite an encounter! Here is Daisy showing off her best feature, her legs.

Lots of really cute felines in the photos today! Some closely resemble some of my old friends. Daisy's color and long legs bring to mind a girlfriend's cat. He is quite the jumper!

It is extremely rare for a healthy bobcat to attack a human, so I was not really concerned when encountering it during the hike. The number of coyote attacks have really increased over the years, though. I have not met up with an aggressive coyote personally, although quite a few are unafraid of people. Usually it is the urban coyotes that attack, so the event frequently takes place in community parks, or with dog walkers, and often the human targets are children.

Gry_falcon.....we have bobcats. I was running down the street a month ago and slipped. I stopped and someone had dropped a 5lb box of deck screws I was slidding on. I picked up the box they'd come in and focused on picking them all up. When I stood up to give my poor back a break there was a bobcat not more than 6' away looking intently at what I was doing. She didn't stay long and wasn't afraid...more curious.....so beautiful!!!!

I could be wrong, but when we were in Alaska quite a few years ago, I think I saw coats made of bobcat for sale. It made me sad. Maybe they were fake.

Gyr--Daisy is an athletic jumper too! Very slim, climbs as high as she can, on the mantel, top of the refrigerator, curio cabinet. If we set up a ladder to do something, she's on it. If she were human, she would be a tightrope walker with Ringling Bros.

Ouch, Nicole. I'm glad you were not seriously hurt when you fell. Landing on those screws could have caused some serious punctures. It is a treat when bobcats allow us such a close look. I remember being surprised at how tall the one in the photograph was when it walked by.

Socks, the coat may not have been fake. Their furs are sometimes used to make coats. Sadly, bobcats can be trapped in season with permits. California just banned trapping statewide a few months ago; I'm not certain if the ban has actually gone into effect yet it was so recent.

gry_falcon.....no fall. :0) I'm fine.

The bobcat had a square end on it's tail. I thought that was really strange. I went home and googled "images" of bobcats to see their tails.....? It wiggled it's tail a LOT, flipping it side to side. I don't know what THAT meant in bobcat language...? I was amazed by the size of it's feet!

A thrashing tail is an agitated cat, big or little!! I'm glad, too, that you weren't hurt. How amazing to see an animal like that so close to civilization.