‘Chunky’ bobcat is spotted on camera in California forest. ‘That is a fluffy cat!’
A photo of a “chunky” bobcat in Northern California had people on social media wondering if the animal was just well fed or pregnant.
Photographer Randy Robbins captured the cat on camera at 11:15 a.m. on Feb. 8 in Lassen County.
“This is a fairly rare daytime shot,” Robbins told McClatchy News over Facebook Messenger. He usually tries to get shots of animals at night.
In the photo, the bobcat is seen staring down the camera as Robbins pulls into the area in his Jeep, he wrote on Facebook. A deer carcass lays behind it.
“Mountain lion kill according to nearby trail camera ... no lion last night, it must have moved on, but this guy is cleaning up,” Robbins said.
The cat, which Robbins estimates at 30 to 35 pounds, darted out of the area when he checked the camera, so he wasn’t able to see it in person.
“My assumption is that it was watching me pull up in my Jeep, and made a quick exit when it saw me coming,” Robbins said, based on the timestamp of the photo.
When Robbins posted the photo to Facebook, people were quick to guess if the cat was a “chunky fellow” or pregnant.
“That’s a very healthy cat, possibly pregnant momma?” one person wrote.
Another person said the cat appeared to be well fed. “Looks like he’s been eating well!”
Others thought the cat was “beautiful.”
“That is a fluffy cat!” someone else said on Facebook.
But overall, Facebook wildlife groups agreed the bobcat was “not a pregnant female but a hefty male” after looking at images of its rear, Robbins said.
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