File:Coast watch (1979) (20633673746).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_9 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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provides excellent camouflage for stalking prey also keeps the cat well hidden from human eyes. Bobcats blend in well with the grasses, forest underbrush and other areas of dense vegetation they prowl. That fur, however, once made the little predator more attractive as prey for humans. In 1973, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) banned the trade of spotted cat furs — cheetah, leopard and ocelot — and the fur industry sought look-alike species to fill the void in the market. It found the river otter and the bobcat. According to Perry W. Sumner, furbearer project leader for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, industry interest in bobcat fur has waned because readily available species with more supple skins, such as nutria and beaver, can be dyed to resemble any spotted cat. Sumner also points out that fewer trappers and hunters find the bobcat a lucrative or attractive quarry, though a handful of people do still hunt the cats for pelts or trophies. (Bobcat meat is edible but of poor quality, so the cats are not in danger of being hunted for food.) Though the fur trade has never really threatened the population, the fall from hunting favor can be only good news for the cat's numbers. More important, Sumner says, is what humans are doing to the land. In what seems a paradox, bobcats have moved into areas most predatory animals normally flee. The reason? Forests have been cut for timber or development. "That creates perfect bobcat habitat. It gives them a flush of small animals to feed on," Sumner says. When land is cleared, brush and young trees take over, creating browse for small animals. Land cleared for farming is attractive for bobcats as well because rodents and rabbits seek out the grain and other crops and concen- trate near the farms. Sumner points out a second reason 18 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1996

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